ABSTRACT

This case study focuses on a linguistically fractured archipelagic state that is at the center of Southeast Asian civilization. Indonesian national identity developed during the colonial era in reaction to the Dutch. After independence, Indonesian national identity partially excluded those of mixed descent and immigrant heritage, such as the Chinese community. Indonesia’s first postindependence leader, Sukarno, tried to deepen this identity through the promulgation of his five precepts: belief in God, nationalism, humanitarianism, social justice, and democracy. Although at independence Indonesia was an exporter of numerous agricultural products and minerals, including oil and gas, Sukarno’s expropriation of colonial ownership damaged the country’s export potential, and socialistic policies produced starvation in the countryside, a rapid deterioration in the infrastructure, inflation, and a growing Communist movement. The military intervened under General Suharto, who slaughtered the Communists, centralized political power and access to wealth under himself, and transformed the government into a vast club of insider traders. Since the fall of Suharto, political power has become less centralized and Indonesia’s tradition of exclusion has focused on non-Muslims.