Word: suhartos
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...economic cataclysm struck in 1997 and, in spite of all of Suharto's soldiers and all of his money, Indonesia was inundated by the Asian financial crisis. Currency speculation had led to the collapse of Thailand's currency, which started a chain of events that swamped Indonesia's rupiah. The devaluation sent company profits dramatically downward; Jakarta's stock market crashed. Food prices spiked upwards, leading to rioting in the streets and the death of perhaps hundreds of people clamoring for food in the capital. The country's divisions re-emerged: Muslims vs. non-Muslims; Malay-Indonesians vs. Chinese-Indonesians...
Instability now led the repressed opposition to gain an audience not just with the besieged middle class but among the military and Suharto's own ruling Golkar party as well. He exacerbated the crisis by hubristically reminding the country of his mandate, running for reelection in March 1998 - unopposed, as was his practice. The country would have none of it. Once street demonstrations and riots started, Suharto could not stay in power without causing bloody chaos. He resigned...
After the overthrow, Suharto spent most of his time living at home with his family in an upscale neighborhood in central Jakarta even as allegations of ill-gotten wealth percolated through the press. Citing declining health and diminished mental capacity, Suharto managed to stay out of court despite a 1998 legislative decree ordering an investigation in all corruption, collusion and nepotism charges involving Suharto. He was constantly in and out of hospitals after suffering strokes and undergoing kidney dialysis...
When it became clear that he would not survive the latest hospitalization, the new rulers of the archipelago came to pay homage and to pray for his recovery. The Golkar party, which Suharto founded and retains the largest bloc in parliament, called for all pending graft charges -pending for a decade now - be dropped. As the ex-strongman lay dying, the health minister instructed all hospitals to provide their best equipment to Pertamina hospital, where Suharto was being treated. But after three weeks, he died of multiple organ failure. He will be buried next to his wife in the central...
...democracy has now replaced Suharto's despotic rule. And yet, he leaves behind an edifice as sturdy as that millennium-old temple in Prambanan. The way things are done in Indonesia is the system of patronage he set up and it remains firmly in place to this day. With Howard Chua-Eoan/New York