Conclusion

For more than three decades, from 1966 to 1998, Indonesia was dominated by the authoritarian New Order regime of President Suharto. The regime claimed popular legitimacy both on the basis of the economic development and improved standards of living it delivered for the majority of Indonesians, and on symbolic political grounds. The New Order put in place an elaborate political system featuring ostensibly democratic institutions, such as regular general elections, nominally independent political parties and a mainly popularly elected Parliament. These institutions were intended to mask a hegemonic political culture which did not permit any challenge to those in power or any threat to the elaborate political architecture of the regime.