Reformasi
Reformasi is Indonesia’s reform movement that ended President Suharto’s rule in 1998 and began the country’s post-authoritarian democratic transition.
Asian financial crisis: A 1997–1998 financial crisis that began in Thailand and spread across East and Southeast Asia. The rupiah’s collapse and soaring prices intensified public anger during Suharto’s final months.
Indonesian constitutional amendments: Four amendments to Indonesia’s 1945 Constitution, adopted between 1999 and 2002. They limited presidential power, strengthened representative institutions, and established direct presidential elections.
Suharto: An Indonesian military officer and president who ruled the country from 1967 until his resignation in 1998. His authoritarian presidency was the system Reformasi sought to end.
New Order: The Indonesian political order established under Suharto, characterized by centralized authority and restricted political competition. Reformasi overturned this system but did not immediately dismantle all its institutions or networks.
1998 Trisakti and Semanggi shootings: A series of shootings by Indonesian security forces at student demonstrations in Jakarta in 1998 and 1999. The cases remain emblematic of unresolved questions about responsibility for state violence.
Indonesian student protests of 1998: A nationwide protest movement in which Indonesian students demanded political reform and Suharto’s resignation. Students occupied the People’s Representative Council building and helped sustain pressure for his departure.
Indonesian presidential election, 1999: The indirect presidential election held by Indonesia’s People’s Consultative Assembly in October 1999. It transferred the presidency through a competitive post-Suharto political process.
B. J. Habibie: An Indonesian engineer and politician who succeeded Suharto as president in 1998. He oversaw early reforms and permitted a referendum on East Timor’s status.
Guided Democracy in Indonesia: The Indonesian political system under President Sukarno from 1959 to 1965, marked by concentrated executive power. It provides an earlier national example of constrained pluralism, distinct from Suharto’s New Order.
May 1998 sexual violence in Indonesia: Sexual assaults reported during the May 1998 riots in Indonesia, particularly against women of Chinese descent. Disputes over documentation, investigation, and accountability remain part of the riots’ contested legacy.