Indonesian History and People

Ketika masih muda, dia pernah bertanya kepada seorang ulama: apakah Adam dan Hawa memiliki pusar? Ulama itu menjawab: ada, karena mereka juga manusia. “Kalau punya pusar, sebagaimana halnya kita, itu tandanya mereka dilahirkan oleh seorang ibu.” Ulama itu tiada dapat menimpali. Kali lain, di atas kapal Renville, ia membuat utusan Belanda yang menuduh RI menyalahi kesepakatan Linggarjati bungkam: “Apakah aksi militer yang Tuan lancarkan terhadap kami sesuai dengan Perjanjian Linggarjati? Kalau Tuan-tuan melancarkan sekali lagi aksi militer terhadap kami, kami akan mencapai pengakuan de jure di seluruh dunia.” Itulah Agus Salim. Ia diplomat yang cerdik dan pendebat ulung; alim yang kritis dan ulama yang moderat. Tapi dia juga pernah kehilangan iman dan susah payah merebutnya kembali hingga menemukan Islam untuk Indonesia: Islam yang tidak terikat adat kebiasaan, tapi dapat menggerakkan bangsa untuk menentukan nasib sendiri.

Di dalam tubuhnya mengalir darah Belanda, Prancis, Jerman, dan Jawa, tapi semangatnya lebih menggelora ketimbang penduduk Bumiputra. Pemerintah kolonial Belanda menerakan cap berbahaya. Ia, Ernest François E. Douwes Dekker, bersama Tjipto Mangoenkoesoemo dan Ki Hadjar Dewantara, adalah "Tiga Serangkai", orang- orang pertama yang mendirikan partai politik di Indonesia: Indische Partij. Sebagai penggerak revolusi, gagasan Ernest melampaui zamannya. Tur propagandanya menginspirasi Tjokroaminoto dalam menghimpun massa. Konsep nasionalismenya mempunyai andil saat Sukarno mendirikan Partai Nasional Indonesia. Tapi ia hidup di pembuangan ketika proklamasi kemerdekaan dibacakan. Inilah kisah si pemberani yang di kemudian hari juga dikenal sebagai Danudirja Setiabudi. Kisah E.F.E. Douwes Dekker adalah salah satu dalam kumpulan kisah para Bapak Bangsa, yang juga mencakup Sukarno, Hatta, Tan Malaka, Sutan Sjahrir, dan Tjokroaminoto. Diangkat dari edisi khusus Majalah Berita Mingguan /Tempo/ sepanjang 2001-2012, serial ini mereportase ulang kehidupan kelimanya. Mulai dari pergolakan pemikiran, petualangan, ketakutan, hingga kisah cinta dan cerita kamar tidur mereka.

If he were alive and today and he were asked to analyse the situation of this republic in the 21st century, Mohammad Hatta could’ve just reprinted his writings published in 1962: “The development is not going as it should be… The progress of democracy is neglected because of everlasting political disputes. The implementation of local autonomy is too slow and triggered commotion in local level.”

A description of Mohammad Hatta’s life, one of Indonesia’s Founding Fathers, from thoughts to love. The content were published in TEMPO weekly’s special edition from 2001 through 2009. Way beyond his time, Hatta has foreseen the struggles of Indonesian Republic that people said he’s ahead of his time.

“Man wijf!” Sutan Sjahrir said to Sukarno because he hadn’t have the guts the proclaim Indonesia’s independence after news of Japan’s defeat spread. Sjahrir was one among those who strongly demanded Sukarno and Hatta to proclaim Indonesia’s independence in August 1945.
Sjahrir was a radical Founding Father, but he hated violence. He believed in diplomacy to defend the Republic’s liberty. This view put him on the opposite side of Tan Malaka and General Soedirman. Yet, his fame is eternalized in a street name in Leiden, The Netherlands: Sjahrirstraat.
With more interesting coverage from TEMPO weekly about his struggle, until his tragic death.

Forty years after his death, Sukarno is still remembered by the people of Indonesia and the world. He represented a symbol of revolution in Indonesia equal to Che Ghuevara for Cuba. His pictures are found everywhere, from households to Facebook pages. A compilation of TEMPO weekly's coverage on the life of Sukarno.

This book, written by former President Habibie, is based on Habibie's diary. It begins by describing the crisis that led to his succession from Soeharto Next it details the first 100 days of his governace. The general election and special session of the People's Consultative Assembly The East Timor problem, and his ideas on regional autonomy His position and appreciation of President Soeharto The fourth chapter chronicle his last 100 days in office The epilogue is an in depth study of his policy and strategy on handling various crisis.

The grisly murder of six high-ranking generals of the Indonesian Army in 1965 set in motion a chain of events that led to the collapse of the Indonesian Communist Party and overthrow of Indonesia s national hero President Sukarno. Author John Hughes was the first American correspondent in Jakarta after the murders and was awarded The Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the events that unfolded."

This sophisticated study, now brought back into print as the second book in Equinox Publishing's Classic Indonesia series, delineates the ideology of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) during a crucial period in its history. After sketching the evolution of the Party's doctrines between 1951 and 1959, Professor Mortimer analyzes the ideas, programs, and policies of the PKI during Guided Democracy, showing how they developed and were implemented. Mortimer thoroughly examines the relationship between the Party and President Sukarno and offers new interpretations of the events leading up to the abortive coup and the bloody destruction of the PKI in 1965. Specialists and students of modern Indonesia and of Asian nationalism will welcome this first history of Indonesian communism during an era that began with spectacular expansion and ended in disaster.

In the last years of the twentieth century, foreign correspondent Richard Lloyd Parry found himself in the vast island nation of Indonesia, one of the most alluring, mysterious, and violent countries in the world. For thirty-two years, it had been paralyzed by the grip of the dictator and mystic General Suharto, but now the age of Suharto was coming to an end. Would freedom prevail, or was the "time of madness" predicted centuries before now at hand? A book of hair-raising immediacy and a riveting account of a voyage into the abyss, In the Time of Madness is an accomplishment in the great tradition of Conrad, Orwell, and Ryszard Kapuscinski.

The New Order Era and President Suharto are the focus of this work.

Around the globe, populists have used the decline of established political parties and widespread societal fears of globalization to launch increasingly successful electoral campaigns. Indonesia is no exception. In the 2014 presidential elections, two populists even competed against each other--albeit with vastly different concepts of populism. Prabowo Subianto, the wealthy former son-in-law of ex-autocrat Suharto, offered a classic populist paradigm based on anti-foreign rhetoric, condemnation of the status quo, appeal to the poor, and neo-authoritarian reform plans. By contrast, his opponent, the down-to-earth former carpenter and Jakarta governor, Joko Widodo ("Jokowi"), advanced a new form of technocratic populism that was inclusive, nonconfrontational, and primarily focused on improving the quality of public service delivery. This study explores the dynamics of the electoral contest between Prabowo and Jokowi, and analyzes what they tell us about the conditions under which populist campaigns are launched and succeed or fail. It shows that Prabowo's campaign was ultimately defeated because Indonesia's post-Suharto democracy was not in a state of acute, life-threatening crisis. However, the issue also illuminates Jokowi's struggle to establish his populist rule after his inauguration as president, with oligarchic forces and other members of the old elite forcefully trying to intrude into his new government.

This biography describes the life of Soekarno, who proclaimed Indonesian independence on August 17, 1945. and led his country as its first president until an unsuccessful coup in 1965, when he was gradually stripped of hs power by his successor, the army general Soeharto.

General Suharto is synonymous with modern Indonesia. He became President amidst extreme social upheaval and mass violence in 1966 and retained his position until 1998. In this book R.E. Elson provides insights into a man who exerted extraordinary power and influence, presented himself as an infallible father of the nation, yet remained mysterious. Suharto sought to transform Indonesia into a strong, united and economically prosperous nation-state, yet after half a century of influence, he is remembered as much for extensive human rights abuse and unprecedented corruption. As Indonesia emerges from the political numbness that characterized his era, its future seems precarious. R.E. Elson is Professor, School of Asian and International Studies at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia and Director of Griffith Asia Pacific Council. He is the author of The End of Peasantry in Southeast Asia (Palgrave, 1997) and The Politics of Colonial Expansion (Southeast Asia Program Publications, 1992).