Page 245 - BUKU A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE IN INDONESIA

A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE
IN INDONESIA

THE 1999 ELECTION AND

THE ESTABLISHMENT

OF THE POST-NEW ORDER DPR

The 1998 Reformation brought Indonesia into a new era when efforts to start

a more democratic life of the nation and state found their momentum.
I

n the history of Indonesia, the birth of the reformation era could be traced
back to the momentum of President Soeharto’s fall from power in May
1998, after serving for 32 years. This did not happen out of nowhere. The
emergence of reformation was an accumulation of a long series of events
and popular discontent.

All this dissatisfaction began when, for years, the logic of the centraliza-
tion of the state on a single actor had been so strong in all aspects of
people’s lives, including in political and economic matters. Soeharto, who
was supported by the bureaucracy and the military, pushed his power to
the largest extent. Starting from the prohibition of political parties during
the New Order from campaigning in villages, the emergence of regula-
tions to regulate and tame students’ critical attitudes, such as the NKK/
BKK (Normalization of Campus Life/Student Coordination Board), as
well as various repressive actions.

The policies implemented by the New Order through the centralization
of his power actually had the aim of making Indonesia a stable country.
The stability promoted by the Government of President Soeharto had
become an icon as well as a slogan, in addition to being a word of moti-
vation, which was often mentioned in public speeches. This was a kind
of antithesis of the era that made politics the commander-in-chief, and
caused other aspects of the nation such as the economy to get less at-
tention.

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