Shadow of a revolution : Indonesia and the generals / Roland Challis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Challis, Roland.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Soeharto, 1921-2008.

Soeharto.

Politics and government.

Indonesia--History--1945-.

Indonesia.

History.

Indonesia--Economic conditions.

Economic conditions.

Indonesia--Politics and government--1966-1988.

Physical Description:

xii, 260 pages, 4 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Stroud : Sutton, 2001.

Summary:

Indonesia is often seen through Western eyes only as a country of exploitable resources, client power groups, corruption, ethnic discord and the power of the gun. After half a century of 'independence', its ability to assert a national identity remains in question. Some would say this was intended by the Western powers, including Britain, which conspired to topple President Sukarno in the mid-1960s and to instigate the thirty-year regime of his successor, President Suharto.

After the Second World War, South-East Asia became embroiled in the Cold War between communism and capitalism, with fierce competition for the control of raw material resources. Communism had put down roots in the region, and at first Sukarno was seen as a bulwark against its further expansion. But influenced by communist China in the early 1960s, he began a military confrontation against the British sponsored Federation of Malaysia. Rightwing generals grew impatient with his venture and moved with suspicious speed to suppress a putsch by leftwing officers. With CIA connivance, they engineered the slaughter of up to a million alleged communist sympathisers and the gradual displacement of Sukarno.

Sukarno's downfall brought Indonesia's unsteady progress towards effective independence to a halt. In the next three decades, most of Indonesia's problems persisted; some grew worse. Is Indonesia in its present form governable at all?

As BBC South-East Asia correspondent during this period, Roland Challis was deeply involved in the events he describes. In Shadow of a Revolution, he restores the conveniently forgotten events that led to the overthrow of Sukarno, and tests latterday interpretations against the actualities to which he was a witness.

Contents:

Part 1 Shadow Play

1 The Jigsaw Puzzle 3

2 One Nation and Free 17

3 Confronting the Neighbours 50

4 Living Dangerously 71

5 Out of the Shadows 87

Part 2 The Suharto Era

6 Army Rules 117

7 Suharto's Javanese Empire 139

8 Human Rights (and Wrongs) 163

9 Suharto's Endgame 186

10 Diversity in Unity 219.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [255]-256) and index.

ISBN:

0750924535

OCLC:

46511642