|
It is generally believed
that the earliest inhabitants of the Indonesian archipelago originated
in India or Burma. In 1890, fossils of Java Man (homo erectus),
some 500,000 years old, were found in east Java. Later migrants
('Malays') came from southern China and Indochina, and they began
populating the archipelago around 3000 BC. Powerful groups such as the
Buddhist Srivijaya empire and the Hindu Mataram kingdom appeared in
Java and Sumatra towards the end of the 7th century. The last
important kingdom to remain Hindu was the Majapahit, which was founded
in the 13th century. The subsequent spread of Islam into the
archipelago in the 14th century forced the Majapahits to retreat to
Bali in the 15th century.
By this time, a strong Muslim empire had developed with its centre at
Melaka (Malacca) on the Malay Peninsula. Its influence was shortlived
and it fell to the Portuguese in 1511. The Dutch displaced the
Portuguese and began making inroads into Indonesia. The Dutch East
India Company based in Batavia (Jakarta) dominated the spice trade and
took control of Java by the mid 18th century, when its power was
already in decline. The Dutch took control in the early 19th century
and by the early 20th century, the entire archipelago - including Aceh
and Bali - was under their control.
Burgeoning nationalism combined with Japanese occupation of the
archipelago during WWII served to weaken Dutch resolve, and it finally
transferred sovereignty to the new Indonesian republic in 1949. Achmed
Soekarno, the foremost proponent of self-rule since the early 1920s,
became President. In 1957, after a rudderless period of parliamentary
democracy, Soekarno overthrew the parliament, declared martial law,
and initiated a more authoritarian style of government, which he
euphemistically dubbed 'Guided Democracy'. Once in the driving seat,
Soekarno, like many like-minded military strongmen, set about
consolidating his power through monument-building and socialising the
economy, a move that paradoxically opened up a huge divide between the
haves and have-nots and left much of the population teetering on the
edge of starvation. Rebellions broke out in Sumatra and Sulewesi,
Malaysia and Indonesia came perilously close to an all-out
confrontation and instability was the general order of the day. Things
came to a head in 1965, the eponymous Year Of Living Dangerously, when
an attempted coup (purportedly by a Communist group) threatened
Soekarno's hold on power.
Soekarno won that particular battle but lost the war when the man
responsible for putting the coup down, General Soeharto, wrested
presidential power from him in 1966. Soeharto started off with a nice
line in political reconstruction, but the promises of economic reform
and greater government transparency quickly degenerated into much of
the same-old same-old. Nepotism, cronyism and grandiose spending,
coupled with the brutal massacre of East Timorese nationalists in
Dilli in 1975, proved that much of the talk was mere rhetoric. By
March 1998 Soeharto was out of touch with the people and, perhaps
seeing the writing on the wall, awarded himself only five more years
in office. He never made his own benchmark and by the end of May that
year he was out of office and the vice-president, Jusuf Habibie, was
installed.
Habibie, never popular to begin with, mouthed the same promises of
reform and even appeared willing to consider independence for East
Timor, but it was all too little too late. The uncompromising stance
by East Timor set off a chain reaction and sectarian violence, student
protests and increased demands for independence spread like wild fire
through Ambon, Kalimantan and Irian Jaya. Rogue militia groups, widely
thought to be controlled and equipped by the Indonesian miltiary,
rampaged through East Timor after it overwhelmingly voted for
independence in 1999; local police forces and parts of the army were
sent in to quash other rebellions; protesting students were killed in
the streets and the whole country went to hell in a handbasket.
After much fiddle-faddle and talk of international protocol, the UN
and Australia got involved in the melee: the UN sent in a token number
of troops to express disapproval of Indonesia's methods, while
Australia sent a sizable contingent of their army into East Timor.
Indonesia was outraged at what they considered an act of aggression
and unwanted meddling in their domestic affairs, and there were tense
standoffs during many of the highlevel powwows between the big
cheeses. Subtle threats and counter threats were made, but none
eventuated. When the dust finally settled East Timor had been granted
independent rule over the smoking ruins of its own country; Habibie
was out; Mr Abdurrahman Wahid, the first democratically elected
president was in; General Wiranto, head of the Indonesian army, had
been dismissed; the rogue milita groups had melted back into the
streets of Jakarta; the rupiah was still in critical condition; and
relations between Indonesia and Australia were still snippety and
tense, but marginally improved.
On 23 July 2001, the People's Consultative Assembly sacked President
Wahid and elected Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri in his place.
With Indonesia at the forefront of numerous crisies - the 'War on
Terrorism', Ache, West Papua and the October 2002 Bali attacks to name
but a few, Megawati has a huge job ahead of her. |
History
