Transcription
This photo was taken by Erik Prasetya on May 19, 1998. In the photo, you can clearly see the stretch of the banner saying "Down with Suharto," which was carried by students 9 days earlier. On May 3, 1998, Erik also took a quite powerful photo of a student facing police officers. The distance between the two is only separated by a red and white flag. On May 12, 1998, Erik again took a visually strong photo of the students who died after bullets from the army penetrated their bodies. The four students came from Trisakti University. Erik's photo shows one of the mothers of the victim, Hafiddin Royan, who could not hold back his tears in front of his son's body. Just the day after the death of the Trisakti student, riots broke out in Jakarta and other cities. Shops were looted, malls were burned, and sentiment towards Chinese people spread. Hundreds of people were killed, and some were raped. Material losses reached trillions of Rupiah in 3 Capital Day. Just like the battlefield, May 1998 will always be remembered as a historical event that led this republic to a new phase after 32 years of being in the grip of the tyrant regime in 1997. Suharto and Golkar won the general election again, but in the midst of the victory that he might have celebrated, Suharto was actually just waiting for the fall.
Because the power of the New Order was starting to be shaken quite intensely by other political opposition from political parties, mass organizations, ulama, to activists and intellectuals, even though it had not yet reached the level of revolution that overthrew Soeharto's throne, the opposition group at that time at least echoed sharp criticism regarding absolute power, silencing aspirations, and even election fraud, as was the character of the New Order regime. Critical voices were immediately closed tightly, and life afterwards seemed to be going well, but it turned out not to be fine. In mid-1997, a month after the elections, Thailand was hit by an economic crisis, which caused Western currencies to drop in value. This crisis also spread to Indonesia, which had an impact on the price of the Rupiah falling in December 1997. Quoting World Bank data, the value of the Rupiah against the US dollar fell to 106.9%. This condition then made investors withdraw their funds from Indonesia, which made the crisis even more difficult to control. The situation increased if various fiscal and monetary policies taken were not effective enough in dealing with the crisis, not to mention that at the same time, foreign exchange reserves continued to run low. At this point, Suharto seemed to be at his wit's end, and in the end, he asked for help from the IMF to save Indonesia from the crisis. The IMF was willing to help, but with several conditions, one of which was the closure of 16 banks whose liquidity was unhealthy. The government agreed, and unfortunately, this closure actually encouraged massive withdrawals of customer funds in January 1998. The value of the Rupiah against the US dollar even reached 17,000.
Five months later, the economic crisis was accompanied by a political crisis that disrupted the New Order government. High inflation, acute poverty, and the collapse of banks and corporations became fuel to reduce Suharto's power. Don't forget the increase in basic food prices, scarcity of daily necessities, and layoffs. This period does not include the deceitful practices established by the New Order, which only benefited Suharto and his family. Instability in the country was a sight that had to be encountered in those months. Soeharto, even though the pressure was pouring on him, remained unmoved on his throne. He said the economic crisis was political engineering and part of the game of groups who didn't like his government. He didn't want to resign and instead sought political support, mostly from the ulama to the military.
In March 1998, Soeharto and BJ Habibie were appointed president and vice president. He promised reforms in government governance in the hope of reducing future unrest. However, trust in him could not be restored, and the reforms offered by Soeharto, one of which was to improve the economy, were not welcomed by the people. At the same time, support for him increasingly dwindled to the point of disappearing when dozens of ministers refused to join his government's cabinet. Calls for him to resign echoed loudly, including from his loyalists. In the end, after feeling that he no longer had support, on May 21, 1998, he made a statement that was greeted with great fanfare by the public, declaring that he was quitting his position as President of the Republic of Indonesia, counting since he read this statement today, Thursday, May 21, 1998. Yes, after 32 years in power, the New Order just fell in the span of 5 months full of chaos. During 1998, Soeharto stepped down, and BJ Habibie, his deputy, stepped up to replace him. Reform then became a sign of change. Indonesia was moving towards a more democratic direction, but what has emerged over the last 25 years?
After the 1998 reform, the hope of welcoming a new Indonesia was not as easy as turning the palm of a hand. A team of academic experts from the University of Melbourne, in their writing, stated that reform is history. After that, Indonesia was faced with many uncertainties, which gave rise to anxiety and confusion due to one thing or another. There is a political system that is vulnerable to corrupt institutions, traces of oligarchs manifested through control of natural resources, and repression of civilians. The above is in line with the findings of several institutions regarding the situation in Indonesia, for example, placing Indonesia in international transportation records at position 110 out of 180 countries in the corruption index. Indonesia's score fell 4 points to 34 from last year's 38, making it the biggest decline since 1995. Then, from the Freedom House index, civil liberties in Indonesia were given the predicate "partly free," with a score of 59 out of 100. This assessment highlights how things such as discrimination against minority groups, militaristic approaches to Papua, and restrictive regulations, for example, the article on religious procurement, are the obstacles facing Indonesia after 1998.
Twenty-five years have passed since the reform. In 1998, Suharto was overthrown with the hope that the shackles of dictatorship could be eliminated, but 25 years since the 1998 reform, the steps to realizing this ideal hope were still faltering.