Word: suhartos
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...years as the undisputed ruler of Indonesia, Suharto did not suppress memory as much as wield it like a weapon. His "New Order," he declared, had brought stability to an archipelago that was less a nation than a factory for political chaos, full of secessionists, radical Muslims, communists and renegade soldiers fomenting catastrophe. But in a swirl of the very disorder he claimed to have dispelled, Suharto was forced last May to relinquish power to a trusted disciple, B.J. Habibie. Even that move could not stem the unrest, and after six months of political tension and economic hardship, chaos...
...dawn at least 14 civilians had been killed; more than 200 were reported wounded. At the Assembly building, sealed off by loops of razor wire and thousands of soldiers and police, legislators passed 12 toothless decrees that only glancingly acknowledged the students' demands to exorcise all memory of Suharto's dictatorial New Order...
Authorities have only themselves to blame for that transformation. Determined to prevent any disruption of the parliamentary session, military brass turned Jakarta into an armed camp. Troops blocked off key intersections as well as the Parliament building--ground zero for the protests that helped topple Suharto in May. Warships and even a submarine prowled inexplicably in the harbor. More ominously, an additional 125,000 civilian "volunteers"--thugs hired mostly from Indonesia's fiery Muslim youth groups--fanned out across the city to intimidate the opposition...
...bitterly, "If the military is so brave, why don't they fight other countries--why do they attack the people?" And while the police and the army were booed and pelted with debris, the crowd cheered the arrival of the marines--who had fraternized with protesters who forced out Suharto in May--thus prompting wild visions of civil war. On Saturday, as thousands of protesters headed for the Assembly building, at least 80 uniformed marines marched with them. Rumors that the military had turned upon itself proved premature, but uncertainty about the loyalties of various factions remained...
...rebellion persuaded the Indonesian military to drop Suharto and replace him with President B. J. Habibie. Student protesters pushing for accelerated political reform may find their actions have the opposite effect. Says Dowell: "A new uprising could actually frighten the military into thinking the situation is so unstable that they should be tightening their control rather than opening up to new reforms." And in Indonesia, the military's opinion tends to prevail...