The origins of the New Order regime<\/p>\n
By Candra Gautama<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): When Soeharto stepped down from the presidency
\non May 21, 1998, it marked the fall of the New Order. But some
\nanti-New Order circles say New Order supporters are still
\nstriving for a comeback, especially through the legislature.<\/p>\n
This sounds plausible given that Golkar, the former ruling
\nparty, has the second-most seats in the legislature. Therefore,
\nanti-New Order crusaders are demanding that New Order supporters
\nbe removed from the legislative body.<\/p>\n
One of the latest signs of this anti-New Order crusade was the
\nstrong opposition to the election of Golkar official Abdul Gafur
\nas North Maluku governor. Thousands of people from various parts
\nof North Maluku launched a demonstration against him and occupied
\nthe local council building on July 6.<\/p>\n
Despite all the uproar surrounding the New Order, those who
\ncame up with the name, which is reminiscent of the Ordo Nuova of
\nBenito Mussolini's fascist regime in Italy, remain unknown.<\/p>\n
The birth of the New Order began in January 1966, when people
\ndemanded Sukarno step down from the presidency, following the
\naborted coup of Sept. 30, 1965.<\/p>\n
A symposium held by the University of Indonesia, the student
\nmovement KAMI and the academician movement KASI in Jakarta from
\nMay 6 to May 9, 1966, is regarded as one of the seeds of the New
\nOrder, as is the rise of the 1966 Generation of student
\nactivists.<\/p>\n
A keynote speaker at the symposium, Yap Kie Hien, used the
\nword orde. In his paper What is torn down; what is waiting, Yap
\ndiscussed the situation of the \"Old World\" before the 1966
\nGeneration made a breakthrough to the expected \"New World\".<\/p>\n
He also said, \"... based on all reasonable criteria, the
\nsocial 'order' of the old world is not more than a ...
\nconspicuous social and mental confusion\". He spoke at length of
\n\"old\" and \"new\".<\/p>\n
On June 27, Kompas quoted former military commander Gen. A.H.
\nNasution as saying before thousands of people: \"Develop a new
\norder, eliminate the old order.\" This was the first time the
\nterms were used in public.<\/p>\n
Standing on an armored vehicle, he thundered: \"There is still
\nno institution purely based on the 1945 Constitution. But let us
\nwork for that purpose, and also for improvement in the Cabinet
\ncomposition and government programs as soon as possible. The new
\norder should be developed and the old order should be eliminated
\nthoroughly ...\"<\/p>\n
From this point on, the terms \"new order\" and \"old order\"
\nfrequently came up in political discourses in Indonesia, but the
\nmeanings remained unclear. On July 4, 1966, Kompas' editorial
\nread: \"The new order does not mean people, but a framework of a
\nlife order ... the old order is colonial, and the new order is
\nthe national order ....\"<\/p>\n
About four months later a different interpretation emerged. On
\nOct. 18, Kompas quoted Gen. Nasution, then speaker of the
\nProvisional People's Consultative Assembly, as saying that the
\n\"Old Order\" consisted of those actively advocating for the
\ncommunists before the Sept. 30 attempted coup, yelling support
\nfor the national-religious-communist doctrine and for the
\neradication of \"capitalist bureaucrats\".<\/p>\n
The \"Old Order\" also included those fostering the cult of the
\nindividual, who did not participate in crushing the
\n\"contrarevolutionary group Gestapu\/PKI ...\" and those who opposed
\nthe \"People's Three Demands\" at that time -- dissolve the
\nIndonesian Communist Party, purge communist elements from the
\nCabinet and lower prices of basic needs. It aslo included those
\nstill engaged as \"political guerrillas and in contraoffensives
\nafter the issuance of Supersemar -- a document transferring power
\nfrom Sukarno to Soeharto.<\/p>\n
It is interesting to observe Sukarno's response to the two
\nterms as contained in Kompas published on Dec. 15, in an article
\ntitled President Sukarno: Not Orba, not Orla, using the acronyms
\nof for the new and old orders, respectively.<\/p>\n
The article read: \"President Sukarno said ... the terms Old
\nOrder and New Order have confused many people. Pointing
\nrepeatedly at reporters and asking them to note his words, the
\nPresident said: 'I myself don't know what is New Order and Old
\nOrder.' He said that once a foreign journalist asked him for an
\nexplanation of the (terms) and he answered: 'I don't know
\nmyself,' and further said that he belonged to the 'genuine
\norder', which he said originated from the objectives and sources
\nof the revolution.\"<\/p>\n
\"I am not La nor Ba. The terms don't come from my mouth,\"
\nSukarno said when receiving an art mission from Minahasa at the
\nMerdeka Palace.<\/p>\n
So was the name \"New Order\" created by Gen. Nasution? If he
\nwas only quoting someone, who was it? How far was the New Order
\ninspired by Mussolini's Ordo Nuovo?<\/p>\n
The writer works with the Gramedia publishing house in
\nJakarta.<\/p>",
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