Indonesia
• Contents
• 1. Maps
• 2. A general timeline with
information about early
Indonesia & European
colonisation of Asia.
• 3. Dutch colonisation of the East
Indies.
• 4. Plantation Crops
• 5. Nationalism
• 6. WWII
• 7. Post –WWII
• 8. Independence
• 9. Recent Indonesian history
 You will need to
take notes.
 Remember that
various
information will
be repeated along
the way.
 This is to help
reinforce the
information.
Summary of Kingdoms
• Srivijaya, 7-13th Century, Java, Sumatra & Malay
Peninsula.
• Sailendras, 8 – 9th Century, Central Java.
• Mataram, 832 – 1042, Central Java.
• Janggala, 1042 – 1222, Central Java.
• Kediri, 1042 – 1222, Central Java.
• Singhasari, 1222 – 1292, Java, Sumatra & Straits.
• Majapahit, 1292 – 1402, The Whole Thing.
Timeline
• 1494: Treaty of Tordesillas divided the non-European world
between Spain & Portugal
• 1511: Portuguese conquer Melaka (formerly Malacca), the
great Malay trading port on the Straits of Melaka. Portuguese
posts also established in the Spice Islands of Eastern Indonesia
• 1520: Spain -under Ferdinand & Isabella, sponsored
Magellan’s voyage. He reached the Philippines & East
Indonesia
• Also circumnavigated the globe
Timeline (continued)
• 1565: Spanish established settlement in the Philippines
• 1570: Spanish capture of Manila – they decided to stay in the
Philippines
• By 17th century: the State-supported Dutch East India
Company (VOC) became the dominant European power in
Southeast Asia.
• 18th century: weakening of VOC power, & defeat by the
English in the Anglo Dutch War, 1781-4;
• English gained more territorial power in India, surpassed
Dutch in cartography & maritime technology, & in the
profitable trade between India and China.
Timeline (continued): 19th century: Colonial
control gradually advances in Southeast Asia.
• The British consolidate their “sphere of influence” in the
Malay Peninsula (British Malaya) & Burma, & use migrant
labour (Chinese & Indians in Malaya, & Indians in Burma) to
develop the export economy.
• the French establish control in Vietnam, Cambodia & Laos
• (French Indochina);
• the Dutch extend their control over Indonesia (the
Netherlands East Indies);
• in 1898 the Americans “buy” the Philippines from Spain
following the Spanish-American War.
Timeline: 19th century (continued)
Some important dates:
• 1824: Anglo-Dutch treaty created Dutch &
British “spheres of influence’ by a
line drawn down the Melaka Straits.
• 1825-30: Dutch victory in the “Java War”;
beginning of forced delivery of crops
such as coffee, sugar, indigo etc.
Timeline: 19th century (continued)
• 1857: Indian “Mutiny”: British government established direct
control in much of India
• 1858: Dutch began a “forward move” in Sumatra, the French
also moved into Vietnam
• 1859-61: French began attacks on Vietnam in response to
treatment of missionaries
• In fact the latter part of the 19th century consists of
European conquests of SE Asia (Indochina, Burma,
Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia) & India.
Timeline: 20th century
• Colonial introduction of Western education leads to the rise
of a small group of elites aware of democratic developments
overseas.
• They become leaders in new nationalist movements.
• The formation of the Communist Party in Russia and China
has marked effects in the archipelago.
• Strong communist movements develop in Vietnam, Indonesia,
among the Chinese in Malaya, & in the Philippines.
• All colonial powers are strongly opposed to left-wing
movements, & give little hope for independence
Timeline: 20th century. WWII
1940-1945
• What happens in Europe has consequences in the colonies:
• Britain, France & the Netherlands vs Germany, Japan & Italy
• Vichy France Nazi occupation. French lost Indochina to
Japan
• 1941, December 7: Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor &
• 1941, December 8: US declared war on Japan
• 1941 December 8 Japanese invasion of Southeast Asia
• 1942 March S.E.Asia was under Japanese control. (not
French Indochina & Thailand)
Timeline: 20th century.
India
Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
Burma
Malaya( Malaysia)
Indonesia
The Philippines
Laos
Cambodia
Vietnam
• Post –WWII is the
period known as “decolonisation” .
African
countries
“Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice?” Economic
Motives for Imperialism in Southeast Asia
• Positioned mid-way between major civilisations to
the east and west
• Straits of Melaka (Malacca) only major waterway
through the region until 16th century use of
Straits of Sunda by Indian traders & in 17th
century by the Dutch (VOC)
• British in late 18th century used passage through
eastern Indonesia to China via Sulu archipelago
• Prior to steamships in late 19th century, sailing ships
subject to monsoon winds
The Dutch in Indonesia
• Both the Dutch VOC (Vereenigde Oostandische
Compagnie) (1602) & English East India Company
(1600) were interested in S.E. Asian trade.
• Conflict led to the Ambon Massacre in 1623 & the
withdrawal of the East India Company from the
archipelago.
• The Dutch gradually gained control of the entire
archipelago: Ambon – 1605, Malacca – 1641, Aceh
– 1667, Macassar –1669, Banten - 1682.
• The objective was trade: Indian cottons for spices.
Dutch East India Company Routes
in the 17th and 18th Centuries
Development of Trade, the
Lifeblood of Southeast Asia
• Initially, Southeast Asia formed a maritime
east-west trade that supplemented the silk
road trade;
• Southeast Asia a transit point
• Increasingly, Southeast Asian products came
to supplement and later even became the
primary products in international trade
Southeast Asian Products in Demand in
International Trade Prior to 15th Century
• Medicinal products: camphor, benzoin, cloves,
rhinoceros horn
• Exotic products: aromatic woods (eaglewood),
rattans, kingfisher’s feathers, pearls, birds
nests, tripang (sea cucumbers; beche de mer)
• Other trade items: tin (used as foil in Indian
temples)
Early Modern Period (c. 1450-c.
1800)
• Southeast Asia now regarded as major source of
goods in international markets
• Return of Chinese traders in 1567, continuing
Indian trade, temporary influx of Japanese
traders, and arrival of Europeans (initially
Portuguese and Spanish, then joined by Dutch
& British in the early 17th century)
• Period referred to as the “Age
of Commerce”
Colonisation of Island Southeast Asia
• By early 20th century all of present-day Indonesia
brought under Dutch control; Aceh in north Sumatra
fought& lost long war (1873-1912), though the Dutch
never re-entered the area
• Malay Peninsula came under British control after the
Anglo-Dutch Agreement of 1824- a line
through the Straits of Melaka creating division between
present-day Malaysia & Indonesia
Colonisation of Indonesia
• The Dutch avoided direct
administration until the mid 18th
century. Control was exercised
through local rulers who were also
doubled as principal traders
• The system of leveringen began at
end the 17th century: Fixed
amounts at fixed prices.
• Direct administration of areas
growing coffee, sugar, indigo &
spices began in the 18th century.
Colonisation of Indonesia
(continued)
• The Dutch employed their navy to enforce a
monopoly on trade with Europe.
• There was no effort to introduce religion, culture or
education.
• Dutch trade practices did have the unintentional
consequence of displacing the population
• One result was the rise of the Bugis pirates.
Hermann Daendels
• Herman Daendels was
appointed Gov-Gen of
Indonesia by Napoleon from
1808-11 to improve defenses
against the British and
improve administration. He
– Centralised administration.
– Reduced graft and corruption.
– Established adat courts.
• Increased compulsory coffee
production and established a
monopoly on rice to raise
funds.
Thomas Stamford Raffles
• Gov-Gen Minto (India) led
an invasion of Java in 1811
and left Stamford Raffles in
charge. He introduced major
reforms.
– Permitted land ownership with
tax rate based on fertility.
– Peasants could cultivate and
sell crops of their choice,
except coffee.
– Created an elaborate court
system with jury trials.
• Dutch returned in 1816.
Role of the Regent
• The Regent was the native VOC agent contracted to deliver
export crops. He was subordinated to a governor-general,
regional governor & resident/comptroller. In turn, he
appointed and supervised village chiefs who he was
responsible to pay from the taxes he collected.
• His role grew to include governmental & religious aspects,
usurping the role of local princes. Eventually, the position
was considered hereditary.
• Daendels & Raffles sought to reduce his powers to protect the
natives. Raffles land rent system virtually eliminated him.
• The Java War demonstrated the need for his support.
First Transformation of Southeast
Asian Landscape
• European attempt to monopolise trade in cloves,
nutmeg, and cloves (“trinity of spices”)
• bring change in collection and production
• Under Portuguese (16th century), spices no
longer just picked branch and all, but picked, dried, &
bagged
NUTMEG
• Under Dutch (mid 17th and 18th centuries), forests
of clove and nutmeg trees “extirpated” *,
• allowing trees only in designated islands:
• Ambon for cloves & Banda Islands for nutmeg
• Clearing of forests by both local rulers and
* Extirpate:
• Europeans for new plantation crops
removed something
completely
Java War (1825-1830)
• Also called the Dipo Negoro Revolt.
• Led to the death of 200,000; 8,000 were Dutch.
• Dipo Negoro was a prince, but as the son of a lesser wife not
eligible to inherit the Sultanate of Yogyakarta. Rejected by
Raffles as his father’s successor, he became an Islamic mystic.
When tombs were disturbed by road construction, he led a
revolt as a messianic ratu adil.
• Controlled middle Java and Yogyakarta until defeated in
1825. Then led a guerrilla war until 1827. Captured in
1830. The war cost the Dutch 30 million guilders.
Banda Islands
The Culture System
• The system was implemented from 1830 to 1877 to
raise funds to cover the cost of the Java War,
Napoleonic Wars & the Belgium Civil war.
• It was the brain child of Baron Johannes Van Den
Bosch, Gov-Gen of Java..
• Required villages to grow export crops to raise
sufficient funds to cover their land taxes.
• These would be sold to the government at a fixed
price for transportation to Amsterdam. The system
provided 19-32% of the state’s revenue.
Max Havelaar
• Max Havelaar or The Coffee Auctions of the
Dutch Trading Company written by Eduard
Douwes Dekker & published in 1860.
• Portrayed the Culture System as organised forced
labor. Increased prices led to increased taxes &
taxes were collected on commission.
• By 1840, rice shortages, famines , epidemics and
dislocation all began to appear. Saijah & Adinda.
• Reforms led to the system being dismantled
government monopolies abolished starting in
1860. Coffee remained a monopoly until 1917.
Other Reforms
• Baron Van Hoevell, a former preacher in Java,
led a reform movement in the Dutch States
General:
– 1848 – The legislature would have a say in
colonial government.
– 1854 – Passed a “colonial constitution” for
abolition of culture system.
– 1870 - Passed the Agrarian Act allowing the
leasing of land and development of free trade.
The Ethical Policy 1901
• A policy of “ethical obligation and moral responsibility to
the people of the East Indies.”
“education, irrigation and emigration.”
Included Western education for elites, agricultural
extension to open new areas and improve crops,
resettlement from Java to Sumatra, improved
infrastructure, encouragement of economic development
and Christian missionaries.
Plantation Crops in Early Modern Period
• Clearing of forests by both local rulers &
Europeans to plant pepper to meet demand, especially
from India and China
• Black pepper (piper nigrum) introduced to
Southeast Asia from southern India about
beginning of Common Era & grown alongside
Sumatran varieties;
• high maintenance crop
• Other crops introduced by Dutch in Java were:
sugar, coffee, indigo, tobacco for international trade
THE CLOVE TREE
NUT AND MACE OF NUTMEG
Sugar cane field
• INDIGO
TOBACCO
BLACK PEPPER
COFFEE
Introduction of “High Colonialism” in1870s:
Creating the infrastructure for Economic Exploitation
• Communications system: telegraph, roads, bridges,
railways, ports, warehouses; roads from mines and
plantations to rivers to ports, later railways to port
• Legal and Administrative system: new land tenure
alienating land for mines or plantations
• Scientific and technical research institutes
• Financial system: currency linked to currency of the
metropole for stability; banking and insurance to aid
capital flow
• Organisation of manpower
• Stable government
• Invested in extraction of raw materials and cultivation of
tropical export crops in great demand in temperate areas
Second Transformation of the Southeast Asian
Landscape
• Major swaths of forested lands & even wet-rice lands
transformed to make way for expansion of area under
plantation crops in all colonial areas of Netherlands East
Indies (Indonesia), British Malaya, Spanish Philippines,
British Burma, French Indo-China,
• Brazilian rubber tree successfully introduced to Indonesia
making rubber a major revenue earner in early 20th century
because of the automobile (& later the airplane)
Industry
• Forests also felled for timber trade
RUBBER TREE
Latex
Plantation Crops prior to WW II
• Coffee
begun in 17th century in Java, but variety
changed from Arabica up to 1880s, to Liberica and
Robusta from Africa today
• Sugar cane also developed new varieties in 19th
century
• Other 19th century crops were tea, originally from
China
• quinine from the bark of cinchona tree (originally
from Andes) developed in Java in early 20th century
• Mainland Southeast Asia’s main export was rice
• Copra and palm oil for vegetable oils, for flux*
* metallurgy a substance that promotes the fusion
of two substances or surfaces. Use: soldering,
welding.
COPRA
Inter-island copra trade since
17th century, but large-scale not
until early 20th century with
increase in world demand for fats
Responses to Colonial Regimes
Collaboration/cooperation
• Westernised elite group, obtained European
education, occupied lower administrative positions in
colonial bureaucracy
• formed Reformist groups, work with Europeans
Aim: Gain autonomy within a larger union under
colonial power
• Anti-Western/non-cooperation and resistance
• Westernised elite group, obtained European
education but refused to work with colonials
• Indigenous “millennarian” movements
• Early 20th century, rise of communism
Aim: Overthrow of colonial regime
Reformism
• Those with education tended to be in the middle
& upper income classes, hence the desire to
be treated as equals of the colonials; met “glass
ceilings”
• In reformism, the elite classes see selves in the
same light as the colonials & feel little need to
consider those below them; class structure still in
place
• Only with failure to gain access to positions
believed to be rightfully theirs through their
education & class, do the elites then turn to
seeking alliance with those under them
Rise of Nationalism-1
• Colonial education:
Learning history
Treatment by European children in schools
Meeting of local students from other ethnic
groups
• Discrimination in employment
• Lack of political representation
• Victory of Japan over Russia (1905) made Japan
hero & magnet for Southeast Asian nationalist
leaders
Rise of Nationalism-2
• Communism
Rise of communist movement
Lenin’s Theses on the Nationalist and Colonial questions in
1920 calling for cooperation of bourgeois nationalists &
Communists
• Religion and Identity
Theravada Buddhist monkhood (sangha) in Burma,
Cambodia, and Laos created sites of resistance to colonials
Islam & religious teachers (ulama) in Indonesia & Malaysia,
helped galvanise support against the Christian colonial powers
From Reform to Independence
Movements - 1
INDONESIA’s path from reformism to nationalism:
Elite emphasis on “our” nation, hence creating the
“imagined community”& subordinating all ethnic
& class divisions under banner of nationalism
National revolution succeeded, & old elite retained
power & benefited in move from reformism to
nationalism at expense of social revolution
Pesantren (lit.: place for santris) or Pondok
Pesantren. special relig. boarding schools in S, J & Kalimantan
Usually founded by a kiai
Kiai is teacher and spiritual guide
Students (santris) board (Pondok = hostel)
Studies include Qur’an, Hadith, fiqh = deepen knowledge of Islam,
learn Arabic, traditions of exegesis (analysis of texts- interpretations
of relig. texts), sayings of the Prophet, law & logic.
• Core values emphasised: sincerity, individual autonomy, solidarity,
& self-discipline.
• spiritual and moral training; nowadays government school
curriculum is also included.
• Close relation between kiai and santris , young men bonded with
teacher & contributing to a sense of ind. commit. to faith
•
•
•
•
Pesantren (lit.: place for santris) or Pondok
Pesantren. special relig. boarding schools in S, J
& Kalimantan (continued)
• Financially supported by students and local community
• Usually cheaper than other schools
– Santris may work for pesantren
– Usually in rural areas
• Continuation of pre-Islamic tradition of schools (ashrams?)
• In Indonesia: Faith=demands of Islam & daily life struggle
• No clear line between orthodoxy & heresy in Indo. context
• Religion adapted to local conditions, brought peacefully by
traders from India in 12th C, mystics as well
Priyayi
•
•
•
•
•
•
Javanese nobility;
value the pre-Islamic heritage;
most are “abangan” religiously
may follow forms of kebatinen
some are practising Muslims
quickest to become Westernised
Reform and Political Movements: early 20th
century
• Budi Utomo: 1908, secular, Javanese
• Muhammadiya: 1912, Santri, modernist, educational, dakwa
• Sarekat Islam 1912, Santri, modernist, nationalist, socialist
orientation, political
• Indonesian Communist Party (PKI): 1920, secular
• Persatuan Islam (Persis): 1923, Islamist, educational, dakwa,
political in 1940s-50s
• Nahdlatul Ulama (NU): 1926, Santri, pesantren based,
political 1941-84
• Indonesian National Party (PNI): 1927, secular, led by
Sukarno
Santri: fully practising Muslims
Dakwa:
Pesantren: religious school
Nationalist Movements
• Many consider the Java War (1825-1830) as a first
expression of nationalism.
• Education of the priyayi (Javanese nobility) and
santri under the Ethical Policy produced a new elite
and a sense of national identity.
• Organisations which promoted nationalism:
– 1902 - Kartini Schools - 1908 - Boedi Utomo
– 1912 –Sareket Islam - 1920 – PKI (Communist Party)
– 1927 – PNI (Ind. National Party)
Were Southeast Asian Resources a Major Reason for
Japan’s Invasion?
• Most of Southeast Asian resources sold to US or to
metropolitan powers: Malaya was known as “the
[British] Empire’s dollar arsenal”, while Indonesia
came to be known as “the cork by which Holland
floated” and “the tail which wagged the Dutch dog”.
Were Southeast Asian Resources a Major Reason for
Japan’s Invasion? (continued)
• Oil in Indonesia was particularly valuable; in 1938
Indonesia produced 7,398,000 metric tons of oil &
exported 5,999,000 metric tons of petroleum products
(petroleum, aviation spirits, kerosene, diesel &
lubricating oils, paraffin, asphalt)
• With
such a high percentage of vital resources available
in Southeast Asia & most going to the West, Japan’s
primary aim in invading Southeast Asia may have been
primarily to deny these resources to the West, while
using them for its imperial expansion.
Situation Prior to Japanese Invasion in December 1941
• In 1930s nationalist movements largely suppressed by
colonial regimes for fear of communist or fascist
influences; secret police active in suppression
• Even reformists lost hope since no concessions being
given because of looming war threat in Europe and Asia
• Nationalist leaders were either incarcerated or in exile,
with little progress toward nationalist demands for
independence or even reforms
• When Japan invaded and portrayed itself as “liberator”
of Southeast Asians against colonial regimes, this was
widely hailed in the region
World War II
• The Dutch promise a
conference on selfgovernment before they leave
in 1941.
• Sukarno, Mohammed Hatta &
Sutan Sjahrir released from
jail by the Japanese when they
occupied Indonesia in 1942.
• Sukarno, Hatta & others
formed Putera as a double
edge puppet government.
Indonesian Revolution
• Sukarno announced the Five Postulates & declared
independence in 1945.The Dutch had not yet
returned.
– Nationalism (National unity)
– Internationalism (One sovereign nation among equals)
– Representative Democracy (All significant groups
represented)
– Social Justice ( A Marxist view)
– Belief in God (A secular state, not Islamic)
Struggle for Independence
• The Netherlands asked Britain to reoccupy Indonesia
on its behalf.
• The initial British force attempted to occupy
Surabaya on November 10, 1945. The result was a
bloody one-month long battle.
• Negotiations with Dutch led to Linggadjati
Agreement in 1947 creating the United States of
Indonesia under Dutch sovereignty. The USI was to
be part of a larger Netherlands-IndonesianSurinam-Curacao Union.
Sovereignty At Last
• The Indonesians were not satisfied with the
lack of sovereignty. A guerrilla war ensued
during which 6,000 Dutch & 150,000
Indonesians were killed during 1947-49.
– A cease fire was imposed by the U.N. in 1947.
– An Asian Conference hosted by India imposed
sanctions against the Dutch in 1949.
– Sovereignty was finally transferred by the Dutch
in December, 1949.
Coping with Independence
• Indonesia found it extremely difficult to
create and operate a viable government..
– Elections only yielded pluralities & weak, shortlived coalition governments.
– The economy was in decline and inflation
rampant. The country was bankrupt.
– Fear of nationalisation of assets prevented
significant foreign investment.
Guided Democracy
• In 1957 Sukarno established guided
democracy to “save” the country.
– A national advisory council was established
composed of representative groups, e.g., peasants,
workers, the military.
– A “cooperating parliament” was established in
place of the elected parliament. Opinion could be
expressed but votes were not taken. The goal was
to govern by deliberation and consensus.
Foreign Policy
• Sukarno sought a leading role for Indonesia as a
non-aligned nation.
– 1954 – Meeting of the Colombo Powers at Bogor.
Obtained support for claims to West Irian.
– 1954 – Hosted the 29 nation Asian-African
conference at Bandung of newly freed peoples.
– 1962 – Indonesia sought to invade West Irian (Dutch
New Guinea) after negotiating with the Dutch since
1949. West Irian was transferred to Indonesia in
1963 with help of the U.N. and U.S. diplomat
Ellsworth Bunker.
Foreign Policy Cont’d
– 1963 - 65 - Crush Malaysia Campaign launched by
Sukarno over the formation of the Federation of Malaysia.
Felt that the linking of Sarawak, Brunei and Sabah to
Malaya would threaten Kalimantan.
– The Crush Malaysia Campaign was part of Konfrontasia,
the confronting of the remnants of colonialism. It
involved NEFOS vs. the OLDEFOS
– Received $ 2 Billion in aid from the USSR in 1965.
Nevertheless, Sukarno was drawn thru the influence of
PKI to align with China.
The Gestapu Affair
• On the night of September 30, 1965, six leading
generals and one lieutenant were assassinated in an
attempted coup.
– General Nasution escaped the assassination and Major
General Suharto was not targeted.
– The reaction was a massacre of a half million Communist
and Chinese, a combination pogrom and Jihad.
– Sukarno had no advance knowledge of the coup but his
powers were curbed. He was removed as president in
1967 and died in 1970.
Suharto’s New Order
• March 11, 1966 – Sukarno
signed the Supersemar decree
authorising Suharto to take all
measures necessary . This was
the beginning of the New
Order.
– Revived the parliament of 1955.
– Adam Malik renegotiated debt of
$1.7 million.
– Ended Confrontation Policy.
– Joined ASEAN
– Befriended the West & Japan.
– Held national elections in 1971.
New Order Problems
• Sekber Golkar (the
government party) lost
creditability in the early
’70s.
• Legitimised “Dual
Function.”
• Graft, cronyism and
corruption were extremely
wide spread.
• Examples:
Astra Toyota & Tommy
Pertamina lost $10.5
billion.
The Downfall of Suharto
• The 1997-98 crises led to Indonesian currency
losing 70% of its value. The IMF bailout required
strict austerity measures leading to further economic
hardship & inflation.
• Sukarno ran unopposed for president for the seventh
time. Sparked by the killing of six student
demonstrators, Jakarta was seized by demonstrations
and riots.
• The army took over Jakarta and Sukarno resigned
after 32 years as president and $15 billion in graft.
B. J. Habbie
• As V.P., Habbie assumed the
presidency. Many were
highly skeptical.
• Trained as an engineer in
Germany. Founded an
aircraft company in
Bandung. Championed
industrial vs. agricultural
development.
• Allowed East Timor
referendum leading to that
country’s independence.
Abdurrahman Wahid
• Elected in 1999. Was a
nearly blind Muslim
cleric. Had suffered
recurring strokes. Proved
to be indecisive &
incapable of running the
country.
• Did not effectively cope
with the separatist
demands of Aceh & Irian
Jaya.
• Was impeached in 2001.
Separatist Movements
• There have been three major separatist
movements: Aceh, Iran Jaya (West Papua) and
East Timor.
Jose Ramos
Horta, Timor’s
1st PM.
East Timor
• East Timor declared its independence in 1975 after a change
in the government of Portugal. Indonesia invaded four days
later.
• Timor had been a Portuguese colony since 1702, as such its
population is 90% Catholic. The Netherlands annexed West
Timor in 1859. It is largely Islamic.
• Indonesia invaded East Timor because it feared FRETILIN (the
independence party) was in league with China & would turn
the country Communist.
• FRETILIN fought a successful guerrilla war from 1975 to
1999. Total deaths from all causes = 200,000 +/-.
• East Timor became fully independent in 2002.
Aceh
• Was independent prior to colonial rule, even
controlling part of the Malay Peninsula (Kedah).
• Indonesia granted Aceh special autonomy status in
1959. The Aceh freedom movement began in 1976
led by GAM. Warfare led to 5,000 deaths by 2000.
• In 1999, President Wahid assured GAM that all of its
demands short of total independence would be met.
Granted 75% of all oil and gas revenue plus Sharia
law and own flag in 2001. GAM continued to
demand total independence until 2005 peace.
Western New Guinea
• The Dutch sought to retain in a commonwealth.
• In 1961, Indonesia mounted an invasion after West
Papua declared independence.
• In 1962, agreement was reached to transfer the
territory to Indonesia. An “Act of Free Choice” was
required. The poll was taken in 1969.
• President Wahid granted special autonomy in 2000.
In 2001, it was split into two provinces. The freedom
movement wanted a share of the income from the
rich gas, oil, copper & gold resources.
Megawati Sukarnoputri
• Indonesia’s first woman
president. Succeeded Wahid
in 2001 as his V.P.
• Formed her own political
party to win election when
banned from the PDI. She
formed PDI-P.
• Considered herself the “good
Queen.” Was called “Mother
Mega.”
• Presided over a 3-year
transition to civilian rule.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
• Elected president in
2004 in Indonesia’s first
direct presidential
election. Called “SBY.”
• Top graduate of
Indonesian military
academy, U.S. Infantry
Advanced Course and
Command and the
General Staff College.
• Labeled “the thinking
general.” Took leading
role against terrorism.
Retired as a 4 star in 2000.