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GLOBAL POLITICAL
AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IMPACTING INDONESIA
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This website records news, reports & analyses on
the realities of globalization and its impact
on Indonesia
since the early years of its existence
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Indonesia Digest focuses on historical and current events
shaping the Country's Political and Economic Development
Global Digest reviews the political and economic world conditions
impacting Indonesia in a global context
Globalisation has not only made the world
smaller but has also made it interdependent
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In the first fifty years of independence Indonesia was led by 2 powerful presidents:
Sukarno (1945-1967) and Suharto (1967-1998) in a world
dominated by the Cold War.
They laid the foundation for the nation's political and economic development.
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Sukarno a fierce nationalist, a forefighter of neutralism rejecting both political and economic imperialism,
refused to become a Western political ally. Western intrigues
brought him down in 1965.
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Suharto, his successor, was a staunch US ally and allowed a western corporate takeover of the country's economic
development. Under his reign Indonesia became closely aligned with western interests and was rewarded with aid
and investment to foster rapid economic growth,
The aid and investment were granted with specific interests of the donor countries in mind thereby turning Indonesia's
economy into a slave of Western interests.
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Modern Indonesia came into being under Sukarno’s leadership
and vision.
The politics of the region and of the century were influenced by him.
And he was leader of one of the world’s most populous countries
for over two decades.
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Sukarno-A Political Biography
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GLOBALIZATION
Globalisation has not only made the world
smaller.
It has also made it interdependent.
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THE IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION ON
INDONESIA
"THE MODEL PUPIL" OF THE WORLD BANK
IN THE YEARS 1968 -1998
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In 2001, John Pilger made 'The New Rulers
of the World',
a film exploring the impact of globalisation.
It took Indonesia as the prime example, a country that the World Bank
described as a 'model pupil' until its' globalised' economy collapsed in 1998,
part of a Western design to impose a "Global Economy"on Asia.
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HISTORICAL EVENTS IMPACTING INDONESIA'S DEVELOPMENT IN ITS EARLY YEARS
President Sukarno united the country with one language. He fought western ambitions to draw him to their side and
was a fierce defender of neutralism, a leader in the non-alignment
movement.
Politically the Sukarno Presidency, unfortunately, became part of the Cold
War conflict. US Policy was aimed at protecting their own anti-communist interests in the Cold War. Indonesia
with its abundance of natural resources and strategic location, was considered important for the Western effort
in their fight against communism and thus designated to become a western ally.Sukarno's neutralism placed him on
the wrong side of the US government
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1966 Suharto and US Ambassador Marshall Green
Sukarno distrusted Ambassador Marshal Green
because of his alleged CIA background , delaying approval
of his ambassadorial appointment for several months.
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1967 President Ford in Jakarta
After President Suharto took office in 1967 US-Indonesia
relations improved tremendously and US investment grew as never before. Suharto's unyielding opposition to
communism won him the backing of the United States during the height of the Cold War. Almost overnight the Indonesian
government went from being a fierce voice for cold war neutrality and anti-imperialism to a quiet, compliant partner
of the U.S. world order.
Suharto ruled Indonesia for more than three decades,
before being ousted on a wave of popular discontent in 1998. During his presidency, investment from the West was
encouraged and Indonesia enjoyed rapid economic growth.
It also gave rise to deeprooted corruption practices.
The influx of foreign capital and investments opened the door for widespread
corruption as foreign nvestors vied for lucrative contracts and projects, working
with a selected power elite.
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SPECIAL REPORTS
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Global Rulers
Journalist and filmmaker John Pilger's recent
documentary
'The New Rulers Of The World'
was broadcast on 18 July 2001.
It investigates economic globalisation
and specifically its impact on one country
- Indonesia
The film
looks at the new rulers of the world -- the great multinationals
and the governments and institutions that back them -- the IMF and the World Bank. Under IMF rules, millions of
people throughout the world lose their jobs and livelihood. The reality behind much of modern shopping and the
famous brands is a sweatshop economy, which is being duplicated in country after country.
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Rule By Secrecy
The Hidden History That Connects the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons,
and the Great Pyramids
Jim Mars, celebrated reporter and New York Times bestselling author painstakingly
explores the world's most closely guarded secrets, exposing clandestine cabals and the power they have wielded
throughout time.
Defiantly rooting out the truth, he unearths starting evidence that the real movers and shakers covertly collude
to start and stop wars, manipulate stock markets and interest rates, maintain class distinctions, and even censor
the six o'clock news. And they do all this under the mindful auspices of the
Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderbergers, the CIA, and even the Vatican.
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The Bilderberg Group
Delving into a world once shrouded in complete mystery and impenetrable security, this investigative report
provides a fascinating account of the annual meetings of the world’s most powerful people—the Bilderberg Group.
Since its inception in 1954 at the Bilderberg Hotel in the small Dutch town of Oosterbeek, the Bilderberg Group
has been comprised of European prime ministers, American presidents, and the wealthiest CEOs of the world, all
coming together to discuss the economic and political future of humanity.
For some 15 years, Estulin has been a thorn in the sides of the Bilderbergers, relentlessly hunting down their
secret meeting places, gaining inside sources who divulge what goes on behind closed doors, even photographing
attendees and publicly disclosing it all. Now he has put it all in a book that every person who values freedom
and democracy should read.
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US Relations 60s-98
The CIA, as well as action officers at the State Department, have prevented the
official release of either volume, already printed and bound by the Government Printing Office. The National Security
Archive obtained the Indonesia volume posted today when the GPO shipped copies to various GPO bookstores; but the
Greece volume is still locked up in GPO warehouses.
The Indonesia volume includes significant new documentation on the Indonesian
Army’s campaign against the Indonesia Communist Party (PKI)
in 1965-66, which brought to power the dictator Suharto.
On another highly controversial issue – that of U.S. involvement in the killings
– the volume includes an “Editorial Note” on page
387 describing Ambassador Marshall Green’s August 10, 1966 airgram to
Washington reporting that an Embassy-prepared list of top Communist leaders with Embassy attribution removed “is
apparently being used by Indonesian security authorities who seem to lack even the simplest overt information on
PKI leadership at the time….” On December 2, 1965, Green endorsed a 50 million rupiah covert payment to the Kap-Gestapu
movement leading the repression; but the December 3 CIA response to State is withheld in full (pp. 379-380).
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Suharto: A Declassified Documentary Obit
The documents include transcripts of meetings with Presidents
Richard M. Nixon, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, as well as
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Vice-President Walter Mondale,
then Vice-President George H. W. Bush, and former Assistant
Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke.
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Corruption
Corruption is a persistent huge problem in Indonesia, detrimental to the country's development ambitions
Corruption eradication, establishing and upholding ethical business standards is a difficult process. A start
has been made.
Corruption is deep-rooted and became an accepted culture in the developing society craving power and wealth starting
with the foreign assistance and investment influx in the 1970's..
Corruption is a 2-way street with a giving and a receiving end.
In the development years the foreign corporations were the givers, the Indonesia
power elite the receivers. In their strive to conquer favorable infrastructural, industrial and mining concessions,
deep-pocketed foreign corporations did not hesitate to pay bribes to the reigning
power elite.
This continued over the 30 years of the Suharto regime and created an in-bred
culture of corruption and wealth spread deeply into several layers
of the reigning government.
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East Timor
The Indonesian invasion of East Timor in December 1975 set the stage for the long, bloody, and disastrous occupation
of the territory that ended only after an international peacekeeping force was introduced in 1999.
Two newly declassified documents from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, released to the National Security
Archive, shed light on the Ford administration’s relationship with President Suharto of Indonesia during 1975.
Of special importance is the record of Ford’s and Kissinger’s meeting with Suharto in early December 1975. The
document shows that Suharto began the invasion knowing that he had the full approval of the White House. Both of
these documents had been released in heavily excised form some years ago, but with Suharto now out of power, and
following the collapse of Indonesian control over East Timor, the situation has changed enough that both documents
have been released in their entirety.
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This website has been created with intensive use of internet research, linking information as available
on the internet, and various publications and books. I have attempted to give due credit to the sources.
My apologies for the ones I may have missed. I will make corrections as required.
Editor
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