Indonesia in 2002: Megawati's Way

Summary

Introduction

On 25 December 2002, President Megawati Soekarnoputri made a one-day visit to Papua. During a ceremony with 3,000 people in Jayapura, the normally reticent Megawati announced that she would sing her favourite song as a Christmas present for the people of Papua. The song she chose was Frank Sinatra's “My Way”. Yet the year 2002 was marked by constant media commentary that Megawati had failed to show leadership on any of the major issues to confront Indonesia. Megawati's way, it turns out, is to be instinctively cautious.

Indonesia continues to deal with the twin economic and political crises that began with the Asian financial crisis in 1997. Politically, Indonesia continues to be in a transitional phase as the body politic moves towards strengthening its infant democracy. The year saw yet another set of incremental constitutional amendments, while keeping to the 1945 Constitution. Despite hopes after Megawati's selection as President in 2001, raised in particular by the announcement of a strong Cabinet, the current administration has been described as lethargic by many pundits. During 2002, there was no reshuffle of the Cabinet, although there were very public difficulties with several members of the executive. While Megawati skirted around the question of a Cabinet reshuffle in mid-2002, by the end of the year she was scotching any suggestion of Cabinet changes completely. Regional autonomy continues to devolve resources and decision-making to the outlying regions. A peace deal in December 2002 in Aceh may or may not bring about actual peace, but there was still a great deal of violence in both Aceh and Papua throughout the year.

The event that singularly grabbed global media attention, however, and has some profound implications for Indonesia, was the terrorist bomb blast in Bali on 12 October 2002 — the single largest terrorist attack since the Al-Qaeda attacked the U.S. mainland on 11 September 2001. The Megawati administration has been forced to confront the problem of international terrorism in its own backyard.