Indonesia 1945–2005

Indonesia 1945–2005 is one of eight National Studies options in Section II. You answer one 25-mark extended response (one of two alternatives), about 1,000 words in roughly 45 minutes. The syllabus key features are: nationalism; forms of democracy; the challenge of communism; the role of the army; the nature, impact and collapse of the New Order; regionalism and separatism; the leadership of Sukarno and Suharto; foreign policy; and relations with Australia.

• Survey: the emergence of the Republic 1945–1965 — the nationalist movement and the Japanese occupation, the 1945 Proclamation, Pancasila, the struggle against the Dutch, challenges to independence, and Sukarno's presidency and Guided Democracy.
• Focus of study: the 1965 coup (the growth of the PKI, the reasons for and nature of the coup, the roles of the army, religious groups and Suharto, and its results); the New Order (ideology and its political, economic and foreign policy impact; religious and regional issues including East Timor, Aceh and Irian Jaya/Papua; challenges to Suharto; the end of the New Order; post-Suharto challenges); foreign policy 1945–2005, including relations with Australia.

Nationalism and the Japanese occupation

The nationalist movement grew in the Dutch East Indies from the 1910s: Sarekat Islam, the PKI (founded 1920), and Sukarno's PNI (1927). The 1928 Youth Pledge proclaimed one nation, one people and one language — Indonesian. The Dutch jailed and exiled leaders such as Sukarno and Hatta. Japan's occupation (1942–45) was harsh (forced labour, the romusha), but it ended Dutch authority, trained Indonesians in a militia (PETA) and let Sukarno address the masses.

Independence and revolution

• 17 August 1945: Sukarno and Hatta proclaimed independence two days after Japan's surrender; the 1945 Constitution created a strong presidency.
• Pancasila (1 June 1945): belief in one God; just and civilised humanity; the unity of Indonesia; democracy guided by consultation and representation; social justice.
• The Revolution (1945–49): fighting with British and then Dutch forces (Surabaya, November 1945); two Dutch ‘police actions’ (1947, 1948); the Madiun communist revolt crushed by the Republic (1948), which won US support; US pressure and the UN led to the transfer of sovereignty (27 December 1949). West New Guinea stayed Dutch.

Parliamentary democracy, 1950–1957

A unitary republic replaced the Dutch-created federation (1950). Cabinets were short-lived. The 1955 election produced four big parties: the PNI (nationalist), Masyumi (modernist Muslim), Nahdlatul Ulama (traditionalist Muslim) and the PKI (communist). Regional rebellions — Darul Islam, the Republic of the South Moluccas (1950), PRRI/Permesta (1957–58) — challenged Jakarta.

Guided Democracy, 1957–1965

Sukarno restored the 1945 Constitution by decree (July 1959) and ruled by balancing the army and the PKI under NASAKOM (nationalism, religion, communism). He won West New Guinea (New York Agreement 1962; Indonesian rule from 1963), launched Confrontation against Malaysia (1963–66) and left the UN (January 1965). Inflation reached several hundred per cent.

• The PKI claimed about 3 million members by 1965 — the largest communist party outside the communist states — and pushed land reform (‘unilateral actions’, 1964).
• 30 September Movement (night of 30 September – 1 October 1965): officers under Lt-Col Untung killed six generals. Suharto, commander of Kostrad, crushed it within a day and blamed the PKI.
• Mass killings (October 1965 – 1966): an estimated 500,000 or more killed, mainly in Central and East Java, Bali and North Sumatra, by the army and civilian militias it organised or encouraged (including Muslim youth groups); hundreds of thousands imprisoned without trial (Buru island).
• Supersemar (11 March 1966): Sukarno signed over authority to Suharto; the PKI was banned. Suharto became acting president (1967) and president (1968).

Interpretations: the New Order's official account (a PKI coup); the ‘Cornell Paper’ (an internal army affair); John Roosa (a small PKI group with sympathetic officers); Geoffrey Robinson (the army's responsibility for the killings).

Collapse

The Asian financial crisis (1997–98) sent the rupiah from about 2,400 to more than 15,000 per US dollar. Students demanded reformasi. After the Trisakti shootings (12 May 1998) riots killed over 1,000 people, and Chinese Indonesians were targeted. Ministers, Golkar leaders and the military abandoned Suharto, who resigned on 21 May 1998.

Post-Suharto challenges

B.J. Habibie (1998–99) freed the press and allowed East Timor's referendum. Free elections (1999) brought Abdurrahman Wahid, then Megawati Sukarnoputri (2001). The first direct presidential election (2004) was won by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Decentralisation laws (1999, in force 2001), ethnic and religious violence (Maluku, Poso), the Bali bombings (2002) and the 2004 tsunami tested the new democracy.

• East Timor: invaded December 1975, annexed 1976; resistance by Fretilin and Xanana Gusmão; 100,000 or more conflict-related deaths; the Santa Cruz massacre (1991); the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize (Belo, Ramos-Horta); the 1999 referendum (78.5% for independence), militia violence, INTERFET; independence in 2002.
• Aceh: the Free Aceh Movement (GAM, 1976); military operations (1989–98); martial law (2003); the December 2004 tsunami; the Helsinki agreement (August 2005) — special autonomy.
• Papua (Irian Jaya): the Act of Free Choice (1969), with 1,025 selected representatives; the OPM; special autonomy (2001).

1. 1945–49: support for independence — the ‘Black Armada’ boycott of Dutch ships; Australia took the dispute to the UN (1947) and was the Republic's nominee on the Good Offices Committee.
2. 1950–66: tension — West New Guinea; Confrontation, with Australian troops in Borneo.
3. 1966–98: cooperation with the New Order — aid and trade; the Balibo Five (1975); de jure recognition of East Timor's incorporation (1979); the Timor Gap Treaty (1989); the 1995 security agreement.
4. 1999–2005: INTERFET and Indonesia's cancellation of the security agreement; the Bali bombings (88 Australians killed); counter-terrorism cooperation; A$1 billion tsunami aid.

Worked example (not a bank question). _‘Assess the role of the army in Indonesian politics between 1945 and 2005.’_

1. Thesis: the army saw itself as the guardian of the nation from the Revolution onwards; it dominated politics under the New Order, and its retreat after 1998 was partial.
2. Paragraph 1 — Revolution and the 1950s: guerrilla war, crushing rebellions, the 1957 martial law.
3. Paragraph 2 — 1965–66: the destruction of the PKI and Suharto's rise.
4. Paragraph 3 — the New Order: dwifungsi, Golkar, East Timor and Aceh.
5. Paragraph 4 — after 1998: the end of reserved seats in parliament (2004), but continuing influence.
6. Conclusion: a clear judgement on the army's role.

• Dating independence only from 1949 or only from 1945 — explain both.
• Accepting the New Order's account of 1965 without question, or describing the killings as spontaneous.
• Describing the New Order only through growth or only through repression — weigh both.
• Writing only about East Timor in a question on regionalism and separatism.
• Using stereotypes about religious or ethnic groups; name groups precisely (for example, Nahdlatul Ulama, Muhammadiyah, Chinese Indonesians).

• Section II is marked on a sustained, logical and cohesive response, detailed, accurate and relevant historical knowledge, historical terms and concepts and, where relevant, historical interpretations. Naming historians can strengthen an argument but is not required.
• Key terms: Pancasila, Guided Democracy, NASAKOM, Konfrontasi, dwifungsi, Golkar, New Order, KKN, reformasi, transmigration, special autonomy.
• Use Indonesian terms accurately and explain them the first time.
• Prepare flexible paragraphs on Sukarno, 1965, the New Order, its collapse, regionalism, and relations with Australia.

• The Cold War 1945–1991 gives the context for US policy in 1948–49 and 1965.
• Australia 1918–1949 covers the Chifley government's support for Indonesian independence.
• India 1942–1984 offers a comparison of decolonisation and nation-building.