ABSTRACT
By the mid-to-late-1990s, there were growing signs that society could no longer be constrained by the corporatist framework or by the politics of exclusion. Intraelite conflict began to move beyond the predictable boundaries of the New Order’s exclusionary framework and began to re-connect with grassroots politics. Disgruntled members of the elite (including sidelined ABRI generals, disaffected politicians, and unincorporated interests)1 and grassroots activists started identifying with, and/or organising, the grievances and causes of some of Indonesia’s politically excluded classes against Suharto’s regime. In particular, elite-level contest stimulated society-wide conflagrations, and resulted in a series of anti-regime mobilisations of pro-democracy groups and state-orchestrated counter-mobilisations of pro-regime groups against the mounting opposition.
