An imposed peace

An imposed peace

One year after president Soeharto left office, Indonesia still
offers a salutary case study of what a strongman's rule, and its
sudden termination, can do to a country.

The trials and tribulations which its people have to endure
are a painful reminder of what a sudden transition from
authoritarian rule to nascent democracy entails...

The important question... is whether the stability which a
Third World country needs badly for orderly economic development
is ever possible without authoritarianism.

The fact is that the order and relative peace which president
Soeharto imposed on his people provided the framework for an
impressive edifice of development.

-- The Straits Times, Singapore