ABSTRACT
Indonesia has a reputation as one of the most corrupt countries in the world (Transparency International 1999). Unlike other countries that are regarded as highly corrupt, however, this was not incompatible with rapid economic progress over many years, and Soeharto’s New Order regime clearly brought considerable material benefits to the majority of Indonesia’s population. Some argue that endemic corruption was unsustainable and that it was responsible for the unravelling that has been seen since mid-1997, but while the nature of government-business relationships undoubtedly contributed in important ways to the crisis, the mechanisms by which this occurred have yet to be adequately described.
