Indonesia Beyond Suharto: Polity, Economy, Society, Transition (Asia & the Pacific) - Hardcover

Emmerson, Donald K.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1563248891 ISBN 13: 9781563248894

Publisher: M. E. Sharpe, 1998

Synopsis

This text presents an accessible introduction to the most significant problems facing Indonesia and raises issues for further investigations. It addresses such questions as: how has Indonesia managed to remain one country?; and is there a truly national Indonesian culture?

About this title

From the Back Cover:

After years of invisibility to most Westerners, Indonesia burst into the headlines in 1997 and has remained there ever since. A recession-triggering financial collapse; rising unrest and violence; President Suharto's forced resignation; President Habibie's plans for democratic elections; the meteoric rise of Megawati Sukarnoputri; a hotly contested national vote; secessionist moves on the periphery; a bank scandal linked to an impending presidential election; and finally, in East Timor, a historic vote for freedom eclipsed by slaughter, arson, flight, and foreign intervention to restore peace and prevent starvation...Sensational events have kept Indonesia on front pages and TV screens around the world.

Indonesia's prolonged and multifaceted crisis cannot be understood without the historical, political, economic, social, and cultural perspectives that the ten authors of this book provide.

What is Indonesia? How was it created? What are its cultures like? How militant are its Muslims? Is religious tolerance possible? Are its women oppressed? Why did Indonesia's first experiment with democracy fail? What is the legacy of its first president, Sukarno? How did Suharto's authoritarian regime work, and why did it last so long? Did he develop the country, reduce poverty, and deregulate markets -- or merely claim to have done so? What was his regime's image of women, and did it match the reality? Were the conglomerates engines of growth or corruption? Is it true that Indonesian entrepreneurs are all ethnic Chinese? What role did Suharto's family play in the economy? Did Suharto succeed in repressing the arts, or did they flourish despite censorship? What made the currency fall? What broughtSuharto down? How effective has Habibie been? How free and fair were the national elections in June 1999 and East Timor's plebiscite in August? Is political Islam on the rise? Were the Timorese militias who rampaged in September 1999 acting on their own? Will Indonesia disintegrate? Is federalism possible? Will the transition to democracy succeed?

These are just some of the questions addressed in this book. Suitable for use in college courses, it lists additional readings, websites, and videos for readers seeking further information on the polity, economy, and society of the fourth most populous country -- and its eventful transition to a future beyond Suharto.

About this edition

• Publisher: M. E. Sharpe
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1563248891
• ISBN 13: 9781563248894
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 395