Zwanzig Jahre 'Neue Ordnung' in Indonesien - Entstehung, Entwicklung, Perspektiven

Abstract

The authors give an outline of the most important aspects of Indonesia's political and socioeconomic development over the past twenty years. They concentrate on the analysis of the gradual shift of influence that has taken place between the powers the "New Order" is based on. In the early years after 1965 the political leadership was mainly supported by an informal coalition of the armed forces, Islam, students, intellectuals and technocrats. After the decay of this coalition it was only step by step that the political leadership created the political structure that guaranteed the stability of the "New Order" and the political influence of the armed forces. The most important decisions in this process were the establishment of GOLKAR and the reorganization of the party system along with a policy of "depoliticization of society". Initially the economic policy aimed at overcoming the devastating heritage of the Sukarno era. This development is best characterized as a policy of growth orientated modemization, which, due to the profits from the oil industry and to foreign support, achieved remarkable growth rates. Only later did it become obvious that internal structural disparities and their social consequences required greater concentration on elements of "equity orientated development". The authors come to the conclusion that Indonesia's political leadership is likely to make an attempt over the next years to ease the social pressure by means of some shift of emphasis in economic policy. The main concern will be to reduce the explosive force of the social pressure. This leads to the expectation of a continued policy of depoliticization rather than a policy of open repression.