ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that many Indonesians are increasingly unhappy with the restraints placed on their freedoms and are ever more unwilling to accept these strictures as a necessary or desirable trade-off for economic development. As is the case for civilian politicians, Indonesia's artists, poets, novelists and journalists are more tolerated than welcomed by the New Order government. The New Order, almost insistently anti-intellectual, is all but bereft of great plays, books and films. The film industry has suffered from a surfeit of government regulations and rules which determine how films are produced, marketed and distributed, while a national censorship board keeps a close eye on the message that films bring to the viewing audience. The government's control of the press also has had a major influence on the 'public language' of Indonesia. The governments accepted in principle the 'universality' of human rights but repeated the Jakarta Declaration's admonishment that countries should not impose their views of human rights on others.
