Where Did Indonesia Go Wrong?
Learn your history, say the experts, if you really want to know what is happening today. As mentioned in the introduction to this edition, the history of the VOC would seem to reflect what is happening in Indonesia today. If the VOC was liquidated because of its errors, what about post-New Order Indonesia? The following are shadows of Indonesia as seen from the VOC mirror.
May 14, 2002
Why did the Indonesian system operate smoothly during the Suharto years, and why is it in such trouble now? Suharto created stability through two policies: (1) allowing corruption to become rampant in the civil service, among ministers, in the government party, between families and among cronies, and in the military; (2) destroying the law through military force. Both of these policies encapsulated the political system in Indonesia. However, th
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