Indonesia: 20 years of Suharto

Press, 18 March 1986, Page 20

Indonesia: 20 years of Suharto

By

Jeremy Clift

of Reuter in Jakarta

Indonesia, with a wary eye on the neighbouring Philippines, is using the 20th anniversary of the Suharto Government for a soulsearching look at how the world’s largest Muslim State will face the future. With the slump in oil prices striking hard at Government revenue, the country’s staunchly anti-communist leaders face the bleakest economic outlook for years. They have spent the last few days debating publicly how Jakarta should tackle problems ranging from the population boom and the belt-tightening measures necessary to counter the fall in oil revenue, to the correct role for the State in the lives of Indonesia's 165 million people. As the Government gears up

for a General Election in May next year, the Armed Forces chief, General Benny Murdani, has spelt out clearly the limits for the debate, firmly ruling out Western-style liberal democracy which he says could open the way for a revival of communist activity. “Unlimited freedom will only give birth to various types of anarchy and ... the revival of communist forces,” he told a seminar,to herald the 20th anniversary of President Suharto’s military-backed rule. Western diplomats say the key problem facing the Government is how to readjust the economy to falling oil prices. Indonesia, an archipelago of 13,000 islands that spans an area broader than the United States, is a leading member of the

Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (0.P.E.C.) and earns about 60 per cent of its foreign exchange from oil exports.

The world slump in crude prices is forcing the Government to trim spending and cut back on development projects at a time when it is increasingly concerned about unemployment on Indonesia’s central island of Java.

With a population of 100 million, Java is the country’s most densely populated island. Diplomats say the Government is worried that an increase in urban unemployment could create the conditions among young people for the spread of Muslim extremism or communism. The Indonesian Parliament endorsed a controversial law last May giving President Suharto sweeping power over hundreds of organisations ranging from trade unions and religious groups to youth clubs. The “Law on Mass Organisation” gives the Government the right to remove the leadership of any group and eventually to disband the organisation if it disturbs the peace. Assessing the main issues before the Suharto Government, the Cabinet Secretary, Murdiono, said it faced several key longterm problems. Top of the list was the population explosion, expected to take the world’s fifth largest nation to a population of 250 million within the next 20 years if growth is not checked. Allied to this was the scarcity of natural resources, the growth in expectations of the people, and the rise of a new generation with different attitudes towards society and the nation from those who lived through the end of colonial Dutch rule. The Government must move to provide more opportunities for people to take part in national development, Murdiono told the seminar marking the Suharto Government anniversary.

"Unless agricultural technology is developed in Java, the country’s main food producer, the projected 145 million population in the island will be in trouble,” said the influential Secretary of the Cabinet. “Apart from agro-develop-

ment, employment in industrial and other sectors should also be created,” he said. The Youth Affairs Minister, Abdul Gafur, warned that the younger generation could turn into a “boomerang" in the life of the nation unless they were motivated to support development.

Juwono Sudarsono, a lecturer in political science at the University of Indonesia, said the future would be much more difficult than the last 20 years, when the country faced no outside strategic threat and was buoyed by rising oil prices. General Murdani, in a broadside against what he termed media imbalance, urged the press to fall in behind national unity and stability, and not to exaggerate dissent. The chief legacy of President Suharto over the last 20 years

has been to provide the stability necessary for national develops ment, following a Leftist coup atempt in 1965. President Suharto’s Government took over on March 11, 1966, when the late President Sukarno stepped aside.

Worried that the contraction of the economy because of the oil slump could stir discontent, the Government has cracked down on dissent and last year executed four leaders of the outlawed communist party. The Attorney General, Hari Suharto, warned last month that anyone who fanned discontent and encouraged instability would be prosecuted. With, perhaps, one eye on developments in the neighbouring Philippines, the Government this month announced new' measures to suppress widespread corruption.