HE is recognized as one of the early Indonesianists, on a level with fellow academics Benedict Anderson and James Siegel. Donald Emmerson has studied politics in Indonesia and in the Southeast Asia region for decades. He first came to Indonesia in 1967, after which he produced a number of books, among them, Indonesia Beyond Soehartowhich is often quoted and used as reference by academics. "I came to Indonesia for the first time when the median of