Indonesia's challenge

Indonesia's challenge

Applause, tears and relief greeted the election in Indonesia's
parliament of Megawati Sukarnoputri to succeed Abdurrahman Wahid,
the elderly, obstinate and ineffectual President dismissed for
incompetence after 21 chaotic months in office.

Indonesia's problems, however, are multifarious and not
tractable simply by better governance Indonesia is, essentially,
a conglomeration of tribes, peoples and ethnicities whose only
common factor is that they were once ruled by the Dutch. Since
independence, the central government has spent most of its
efforts trying to enforce its authority throughout the
archipelago. This has led it to settle millions of migrants from
the overcrowded island of Java in remoter areas and amid alien
cultures, and using the army as an instrument of political
control.

Both have now proved counterproductive. Resentment of the
Javanese migrants has led to rebellion in Aceh and gruesome
ethnic slaughter in central Borneo. The army has been humiliated
in East Timor where its attempt to impose Jakarta's rule was
rejected. Some Indonesians believe that this fissiparous nation
will eventually break up, and the main issue is whether this can
be managed peacefully or will come through violence. The country
is no longer seen in Washington as a bulwark against communism.
Whether President Megawati will receive anything more than verbal
support from the West in her attempt to hold her country together
is of vital importance to 225 million Indonesians as well as most
of Southeast Asia. She needs good counsel and steady nerves.

-- The Times, London