Page 105 - Transformasi Masyarakat Indonesia dan Historiografi Indonesia Modern

Djoko Suryo

5
cultural. The situation in the country now is that the economy
is still experiencing a down turn, political corruption is still all
pervasive, and Indonesian society is threatened by social ten-
sion and conflict which may, if the general situation worsens,
lead to widespread social unrest. Sadly, the successful economic
development of the past three decades now seem to be reversed.
The deep economic and political crisis in Indonesia is clearly
indicated by the dramatic deterioration in economic indicators.
The value of currency fell from about Rp.2,500 per U.S. dollar
at the omset of the crisis to Rp. 17,000 in January 1998; and it is
6
estimated that in 1998 tens of millions of ordinary Indonesian
people have sunk back into poverty. 7
Specific political problem that need to be overcome by Indo-
nesia are crisis of leadership and the general crisis of credibil-
ity within the life of nation state which is based on a plural
society distributed over 17000 islands set in a sensitive geo poli-
tical maritime context.
The economic and political crisis in Indonesia, as well as in
Thailand and Malaysia, may well greatly weaken ASEAN. In
turn, the weakening of ASEAN would affect the Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation forum and the ASEAN Regional forum
in which the ASEAN leadership is understandably prominent.

3. Regional Cooperation and Socio Cultural Cooperation

It is interesting that, dialectically speaking, the Southeast
Asian economic crisis in Indonesia and Thailand has led to the
birth of a reformation movement in both countries, with the
aim of moving toward greater openness and reform in the po-

5 Hadi Soesastro, “The Indonesian Economy under Abdurrahman
Wahid”, in Southeast Asian Affairs 2000 (Singapore: Institute of Southeast
Asian Studies, 2000), pp. 134 – 144.
6 Ibid., pp. 135.
7 The Economist ,19 September, 1998, pp. 31 – 32.

84