RI sees peaceful transfer of power

RI sees peaceful transfer of power

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The inauguration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on
Wednesday marked a peaceful and orderly transfer of power.

For the first time in Indonesia's modern history, the country
has experienced a peaceful and orderly transition of power
without the use of coercion or military power, but rather through
the ballot box.

The fact that Susilo won the election by a landslide gives him
strong legitimacy in forming his government, unlike leaders of
the past who had to devote a great deal of time and energy to
purging the entrenched remnants of previous administrations.

Elected by an interim committee tasked with preparing for
independence, Sukarno, the country's first president, was given
the arduous task of building the new nation that had just emerged
out of the ashes of the Dutch East Indies.

However, the first president was only able to rule effectively
after 1950, when the country decided to revert to the 1945
Constitution.

From that moment on, Sukarno kept accumulating power and
became supreme leader in the late 1950s when he dissolved the
parliament and set up an assembly consisting of political forces
that would support his continued rule, including the Indonesian
Communist Party (PKI) and the military.

Sukarno's flirtation with the PKI sparked resistance from
certain elements in the military, which culminated in the killing
of a number of prominent generals in an abortive coup.

It was during this turbulent period that the country's second
president, Soeharto, rose to power after initiating a purge
against suspected members of the PKI, which was blamed for the
attempted coup.

Soeharto spent the latter half of the 1960s obliterating
Sukarno's legacy.

Soeharto's distaste for political opposition led him to
streamline the country's political system so that all resources
could be allocated to economic development.

As time went on, Soeharto accumulated power along the way just
as Soekarno did, and only deigned to resign after massive student
rallies and riots that led to the deaths of hundreds of
civilians.

Soeharto's vice president, BJ Habibie, was named the country's
third president amid allegations that he had turned his back on
the autocrat by persuading 14 ministers not to join Soeharto's
new Cabinet.

Habibie helped chart the course of political reform, which led
to the country's first democratic election in 1999 following the
fall of Soeharto in 1998.

Unfortunately, his decision to hold the referendum that led to
East Timor's secession from Indonesia did not amuse the political
factions in the People's Consultative Assembly, who then rejected
his accountability speech.

He eventually decided to pull out of the presidential race,
but turned up at the MPR session that had just elected
Abdurrahman Wahid as the country's fourth president to
congratulate him.

The Wahid administration barely lasted two years. His
unpredictable behavior and independence drew the ire of the
political factions that had thrust him into the presidency and
which now combined to oust him.

Upon his ouster, the MPR named his vice president, Megawati
Soekarnoputri, as president. The peeved Wahid refused to speak to
her for the next three years.

Despite her aloofness, Megawati can be credited with restoring
relative stability to the country after the late 1990s crisis,
and overseeing the country's first direct presidential election,
which catapulted Susilo to power.