Soeharto's 'New Order' merely hibernating

Soeharto's 'New Order' merely hibernating

Even though some government functionaries have been replaced,
without a change in the system that (former president) Soeharto
created, the old culture of corruption, collusion and nepotism is
sure to reappear.

Monitoring and activities by independent non-governmental
organizations need to be institutionalized. At the same time, the
national legislature must be turned into a genuine institution of
the people, by the people and for the people through free and
fair elections.

We must not be hasty in assuming that the old Soeharto regime
is dead. The statements that are made and the political
strategies followed by most high-ranking officials of the current
Habibie administration -- both civilian and military -- appear
highly inclined to reinstate the old political and economic
systems adopted under Soeharto.

It could be that those high-ranking state officials and Golkar
functionaries in question are unaware of all this. However, the
drift is unmistakable to the public. Some people even assert that
the Soeharto regime is not actually dead -- it is merely
hibernating.

-- Merdeka, Jakarta