1 - Introduction

Summary

From the end of the 1960s, Indonesia was a stable, authoritarian polity in Southeast Asia. Under General Suharto' “New Order” (Orde Baru), the fourth most populated country in the world experienced an impressive economic expansion and growing prosperity. These positive developments, however, were accompanied by widespread repression and human rights violations, effectively silencing voices of dissent (Nasution 1994; Schwarz 1994, pp. 249–57; Ufen 2002a, pp. 306 –24).

In 1997, the Asian economic crisis started to shake the foundations of Suharto' authoritarian regime and more Indonesians began to openly doubt its legitimacy. Nevertheless, on 10 March 1998 President Suharto was reelected for his seventh five-year term by his hand-picked loyalists in the People' Consultative Assembly (MPR). As before, no other candidate was proposed and Suharto was unanimously approved. Nobody dared to criticize the long-time autocrat and instead, praise was heaped on the “beloved leader”. The cheering crowd of people' representatives at the MPR session in March 1998 has remained in the memory of those who witnessed the spectacle. At this time, it seemed that the people' representatives were steadfast supporters of and completely subordinate to the dominant executive.

The reality only 18 months was a stark contrast. Suharto' successor, President Habibie, was booed and jeered; his accountability report was rejected by the same institution. The people' representatives not only strongly criticized the government' decisions, but also set up inquiry committees to investigate the president' alleged wrongdoings — actions which for decades had been unimaginable. Another eighteen months later, in June 2001, the MPR impeached Habibie' successor, President Wahid. He was replaced by Megawati Soekarnoputri, who was very conscious of the new-found power of the people' representatives. The people' representatives seemed to have developed into a forceful political body.

Indonesia has experienced tremendous change in a short but turbulent span of time. The two state institutions, the People' Consultative Assembly (MPR) and the House of Representatives (DPR), were not only actively involved but became symbols for the political change which took place between 1998 and 2004. The “rubber stamp” legislature, as it was described in the scholarly literature until 1998 (Schwarz 1994, p. 272; Djiwandono 1995, p. 232), transformed into what a leading Indonesian politician, Amien Rais, called a “superbody”.

The changing role of the Indonesian parliament must be assessed in the broad framework of political regime change and democratic transition.