ABSTRACT
There were times when it seemed that the New Order would last indefinitely, limited only by the mortality of its leader, Suharto. It is important to remind ourselves that the regime’s central rationale, that of order for development, met few sustained challenges inside or outside Indonesia. It is only now, with the relaxation of authoritarian constraints, that the true social, economic and political costs of authoritarian developmentalism can be fully discerned. Indonesia, and its first democratic government since the 1950s, appears close to being overwhelmed by an ever-growing catalogue of problems that were created, suppressed or ignored for more than three decades. Some problems are more pressing than others. The energies of the government are absorbed with critical matters that will not wait, such as threats of secession, or the many-sided problems of the economy. Other urgent issues are simply pushed down, or off, the government’s list of priorities.
