History UsefulNotes / ThePresidentsOfIndonesia

In the Second World War, after Japan took over Dutch East Indies, Suharto was transferred into the service of the Japanese backed Indonesian militia called the 'PETA' (Defenders of the Motherland). PETA militiamen were trained and led by Japanese officers who trained them harshly and indoctrinated them with the Bushido code, which profoundly influenced Soeharto's way of thinking. Soeharto did not participate on the PETA Rebellion against the Japanese and in the aftermath of the rebellion, he was dispatched to train newer NCOs to replace the ones that were killed in the rebellion. When the Japanese surrendered to the Allies, Suharto was ordered to disband his regiment which he promptly did and returned to Yogyakarta. Soeharto would then join the new republican groups who were forming militias to fight against Dutch forces attempting to reassert control on Indonesia. Suharto fought with distinction, earning him the respect of officers higher in rank, and by the end of the Dutch aggressions, Soeharto was already a high ranking officer within the Indonesian Army.

By the end of 2000, a mixture of Gus Dur's liberalizing policies, drive towards the West, accusations of corruption, and deteriorating relationship with the military brew strong opposition against his administration. The final straw towards his presidency was when he made an offhanded remark that he would dissolve the parliament in a meeting with university rectors, prompted a strong reaction from the opposition and the parliament. On February 2001, members of the upper house of the parliament met to impeach and remove Gus Dur. Some members of the public, including Gus Dur's organization the Nahdatul Ulama, rose in reaction to the impeachment and rioted in Indonesian streets. Gus Dur demanded his supporters to stand down but they refused. Gus Dur moved to dissolve the upper house, in response, the upper house moved to impeach him anyways while the military stationed a garrison in front of the National Palace, forcing him to back down. The upper house then conferred the presidency towards Gus Dur's vice president, Megawati, who became the next president and effectively removing him from power. Despite this, he still refuses to leave the National Palace, insisting he was president before leaving to the United States.

Around April 1998, Soeharto and the IMF signed a third agreement that led to Soeharto reducing subsidies. While there were already major social factors at work demonstrating against Soeharto, it was mostly university students demanding for more competence within the government. The reduction of subsidies of fuel caused a massive riots to break out in major cities within Indonesia. People from all levels of society took the streets in Jakarta to demonstrate against Soeharto's regime, demanding him to come down. When four university students from Trisakti University were shot and killed by military personnel during the demonstration, the situation broke into a full-scale riot and looting. Anarchy looms in Jakarta. To control the situation, Soeharto reshuffled his cabinet but his officials refused to join his new cabinet. Soeharto granted power to General Wiranto to do "whatever it takes" to quell and control the riots, but Wiranto understands that a coercive approach towards the public would worsen the situation. Soeharto finally understood his position and that no one was willing to listen to him again, but despite all that, he could still cling into power. The final nail on the coffin would come from the Indonesian parliament speaker, Harmoko, demanding his resignation - [[EtTuBrute an action that shook Soeharto himself]][[note]]A Golkar politician even called Harmoko "[[EtTuBrute Brutus]]."[[/note]], as he genuinely saw Harmoko as a trustworthy ally. With all this at his doorstep, Soeharto did the unthinkable and finally resigned as President of Indonesia on the 21st of May.

Around April 1998, Soeharto and the IMF signed a third agreement that led to Soeharto reducing subsidies. While there were already major social factors at work demonstrating against Soeharto, it was mostly university students demanding for more competence within the government. The reduction of subsidies of fuel caused a massive riots to break out in major cities within Indonesia. People from all levels of society took the streets in Jakarta to demonstrate against Soeharto's regime, demanding him to come down. When four university students from Trisakti University were shot and killed by military personnel during the demonstration, the situation broke into a full-scale riot and looting. Anarchy looms in Jakarta. To control the situation, Soeharto reshuffled his cabinet but his officials refused to join his new cabinet. Soeharto granted power to General Wiranto to do "whatever it takes" to quell and control the riots, but Wiranto understands that a coercive approach towards the public would worsen the situation. Soeharto finally understood his position and that no one was willing to listen to him again, but despite all that, he could still cling into power. The final nail on the coffin would come from the Indonesian parliament speaker, Harmoko, demanding his resignation - [[EtTuBrute an action that shook Soeharto himself]][[note]]A Golkar politician even called Harmoko "[[EtTuBrute Brutus]]"[[/note]], as he genuinely saw Harmoko as a trustworthy ally. With all this at his doorstep, Soeharto did the unthinkable and finally resigned as President of Indonesia on the 21st of May.

Around April 1998, Soeharto and the IMF signed a third agreement that led to Soeharto reducing subsidies. While there were already major social factors at work demonstrating against Soeharto, it was mostly university students demanding for more competence within the government. The reduction of subsidies of fuel caused a massive riots to break out in major cities within Indonesia. People from all levels of society took the streets in Jakarta to demonstrate against Soeharto's regime, demanding him to come down. When four university students from Trisakti University were shot and killed by military personnel during the demonstration, the situation broke into a full-scale riot and looting. Anarchy looms in Jakarta. To control the situation, Soeharto reshuffled his cabinet but his officials refused to join his new cabinet. Soeharto granted power to General Wiranto to do "whatever it takes" to quell and control the riots, but Wiranto understands that a coercive approach towards the public would worsen the situation. Soeharto finally understood his position and that no one was willing to listen to him again, but despite all that, he could still cling into power. The final nail on the coffin would come from the Indonesian parliament speaker, Harmoko, demanding his resignation - [[EtTuBrute an action that shook Soeharto himself]][[note]]He even called Harmoko "Brutus"[[/note]], as he genuinely saw Harmoko as a trustworthy ally. With all this at his doorstep, Soeharto did the unthinkable and finally resigned as President of Indonesia on the 21st of May.

Around April 1998, Soeharto and the IMF signed a third agreement that led to Soeharto reducing subsidies. While there were already major social factors at work demonstrating against Soeharto, it was mostly university students demanding for more competence within the government. The reduction of subsidies of fuel caused a massive riots to break out in major cities within Indonesia. People from all levels of society took the streets in Jakarta to demonstrate against Soeharto's regime, demanding him to come down. When four university students from Trisakti University were shot and killed by military personnel during the demonstration, the situation broke into a full-scale riot and looting. Anarchy looms in Jakarta. To control the situation, Soeharto reshuffled his cabinet but his officials refused to join his new cabinet. Soeharto granted power to General Wiranto to do "whatever it takes" to quell and control the riots, but Wiranto understands that a coercive approach towards the public would worsen the situation. Soeharto finally understood his position and that no one was willing to listen to him again, but despite all that, he could still cling into power. The final nail on the coffin would come from the Indonesian parliament speaker, Harmoko, demanding his resignation - [[EtTuBrute an action that shook Soeharto himself]], as he genuinely saw Harmoko as a trustworthy ally. With all this at his doorstep, Soeharto did the unthinkable and finally resigned as President of Indonesia on the 21st of May.

The first President of Indonesia. '''Soekarno''' (or '''[[SpellMyNameWithAnS Sukarno]]''') was born '''Koesno Sosrodihardjo''' on 6 June 1901 in Soerabaja (modern day Surabaya). Soekarno was the son of a Javanese teacher and nobleman to his Hindu Balinese wife. He was renamed after he survived a childhood illness following Javanese customs. Because of his father's high standing within the Dutch East Indies as a nobleman, Soekarno received better education than most kids his age, attending education in Dutch schools for his primary education. In his youth, Soekarno was a passionate scholar and a charming classmate, both qualities would define his character in later years. While attending higher education, Soekarno met with Tjokroaminoto, a respected figure within Java and a forerunner of Indonesian nationalism who would expose Soekarno to ideas of nationalism. He would go on to study civil engineering in Bandung, receiving an engineer's degree and began organizing study groups consisting of Indonesian students as a opposed to other study groups who were dominated by Dutch and Dutch-Indonesian students.

The second President of Indonesia. '''Soeharto''' (or '''[[SpellMyNameWithAnS Suharto]]''') was born on 8 June 1921 in Kemusuk, Yogyakarta. Sworn into office on 1966 after the pro-Army government overthrew Soekarno. Soeharto contrasted with his predecessor Soekarno. While Soekarno was an intellectual scholar brimming with charisma, Soeharto was a simple man who joined the military out of circumstances and was described as cold. Born on Kemusuk, Dutch East Indies in 8 June 1921, Suharto's upbringing was quite simple, as he lived a life to a son of a village irrigation official and spent most of his life outside the contact of European colonizers and modernity. Suharto attended lower fee schools and later graduated basic education at 18, where he took upon a clerical job in a local bank. Suharto was later fired because his employers did not like that he tore his only working clothes due to an accident. Jobless, he enlisted in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL).

By the end of 2000, a mixture of Gus Dur's liberalizing policies, drive towards the West, accusations of corruption and deteriorating relationship with the military brew strong opposition against his administration. The final straw towards his presidency was when he made an offhanded remark that he would dissolve the parliament in a meeting with university rectors, prompted a strong reaction from the opposition and the parliament. On February 2001, members of the upper house of the parliament met to impeach and remove Gus Dur. Some members of the public, including Gus Dur's organization the Nahdatul Ulama, rose in reaction to the impeachment and rioted in Indonesian streets. Gus Dur demanded his supporters to stand down but they refused. Gus Dur moved to dissolve the upper house, in response, the upper house moved to impeach him anyways while the military stationed a garrison in front of the National Palace, forcing him to back down. The upper house then conferred the presidency towards Gus Dur's vice president, Megawati, who became the next president and effectively removing him from power. Despite this, he still refuses to leave the National Palace, insisting he was president before leaving to the United States.

In May 1998, at the height of the Asian financial crisis, Habibie was given the shocking news of Soeharto's resignation as President of Indonesia. He assumed office immediately after his resignation and became the third President of Indonesia, [[FishOutOfWater despite having no political background nor experience]]. Habibie, having no interest in politics but a huge inclination towards the development of Indonesia, formed the Development Reform Cabinet and began dismantling [[VetinariJobSecurity Soeharto's authoritarian political structure]] by taking out Soeharto's cronies out of office, reshuffling the cabinet, released political prisoners and promised free elections. His decisions paved way for the Indonesian Reformation era, as he reintroduced democracy and free speech after 30 years of dictatorship. Habibie first policies outside of dismantling Soeharto's system is to give East Timor it's independence, understanding that the Soviet Union has lost the Cold War, meaning that a communist country would not be a threat to Indonesia. The Indonesian Army did not like this decision and even threatened to throw a military coup, but backed down when UN peacekeeping forces entered Timor. Habibie oversaw a great political reform within Indonesia that saw the reintroduction of democracy and free speech, and the reduction of the army's role within the government. It was during this reform that Habibie stepped on many foot, from people of the government and also the army. Habibie also opened up Indonesia to investments from other countries, seeking investment opportunities to support the development of Indonesia. While people saw him as only a temporal president, it would seem Habibie is determined to continue his presidency. Without much support, Habibie withdrew his nomination in the upcoming presidency and retired. He would continue his engineering work in Germany and spent most of his post-presidency life there than Indonesia.

In the aftermath of the killings, the Indonesian Army took over the government and removed Soekarno from his presidency. Soeharto was later sworn to office as a temporal president, before becoming the official president two years later.

The second President of Indonesia. Sworn into office on 1966 after the pro-Army government overthrew Soekarno. Soeharto contrasted with his predecessor Soekarno. While Soekarno was an intellectual scholar brimming with charisma, Soeharto was a simple man who joined the military out of circumstances and was described as cold. Born on Kemusuk, Dutch East Indies in 8 June 1921, Suharto's upbringing was quite simple, as he lived a life to a son of a village irrigation official and spent most of his life outside the contact of European colonizers and modernity. Suharto attended lower fee schools and later graduated basic education at 18, where he took upon a clerical job in a local bank. Suharto was later fired because his employers did not like that he tore his only working clothes due to an accident. Jobless, he enlisted in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL).

While no longer serving, Soeharto's influence and legacy looms over Indonesia. The atrocities he committed which killed thousands and oppressed millions did not account him. His children, who General Benny Moerdani warned were becoming "greedy", became involved in politics and business to this day. Trillions of dollars worth of assets and money disappeared into his family's pockets. Despite all this, Soeharto arguably left Indonesia a better place than before and the reason he stayed in power for so long was while he was deeply corrupt and authoritarian, Soeharto made sure Indonesia's economy prosper, and their status in global politics more renown. Soekarno might've formed Indonesia but Indonesians know Soeharto was the one who built Indonesia.

Throughout his tenure as President, Soeharto often resorts to ruthless coercion and strongarming of people. His policies were a reflection of his personal experiences and preferences. Suharto's upbringing contrasts with that of leading Indonesian nationalists such as Sukarno in that he is believed to have had little interest in anti-colonialism, or political concerns beyond his immediate surroundings. Unlike Sukarno and his circle, Suharto had little or no contact with European colonisers. Consequently, he did not learn to speak Dutch or other European languages in his youth. In regard of politics, Soeharto [[BoringButPractical cared little for the ideological assertion of the Pancasila and focused more on building the Indonesian nation]]. The policies that he took, both good and bad, underscored his pragmatism and practicality, in contrast to the grandeur and visionary Soekarno. This in turn, prepared Indonesia to face the changing landscape of global politics and economy.

Soeharto and his family continued to stay on power for 30 years uncontested, leading an economical prosperous Indonesia with his firm and authoritative hand. The people of Indonesia was mostly chaffing under his undemocratic rule. Soeharto [[SecretPolice relied on a force of soldiers and policemen to control the populace]], the Indonesian people call them "Petrus" or ''penembak misterius'' (mystery shooter). The Asian financial crisis of 1997 would be the fatal blow towards Soeharto's presidency, the crisis hit Indonesia during the start of 1998. In January 1998, the rupiah lost half of its value, causing Indonesians to hoard for food ''en masse'' since the famine in the 60s. The IMF approached Indonesia to bail, only to worsen the crisis. It is believed that the IMF and Soeharto pushed for too much reform within too little time, thereby worsening the Indonesian economy. The government's inability to control the crisis finally gave people the excuse they needed to oust Soeharto out of office.

In his lifetime, Soekarno is known as an intellectual, [[LargeHam a vocal speaker and a charismatic figure]]. His passionate speeches and ideas of Indonesia drew a lot of support from all sides and manners of the public. However, his obsession with maintaining support made him appear indecisive and duplicitous, especially towards the end of his life. Naturally, both his intellect and charm [[TheCasanova won him the affection of many women in his life]]. Soekarno was a serial womanizer and married nine times in his life. His first wife was Siti Oetari, daughter of his mentor Tjokroaminoto. He courted Oetari early in his life. He later underwent a cycle of marriage and divorces, marrying Fatmawati who bore him Megawati Soekarno Putri, his eldest daughter and the fifth President of Indonesia. He later met Naoko Nemoto, a hostess in Ginza. Soekarno met her when he went to Tokyo for a state visit and the two married, to which she became his lifelong companion until his house arrest. Even in his string of marriages, [[ThePornomancer Soekarno allegedly had countless affairs with the women he met in his life]].

As president, Gus Dur presided over the continuation of Habibie's 'reconstruction of democracy'. Differing from Habibie was that Gus Dur focused on reconciliation between the government and everyone else. Gus Dur strengthened Indonesian diplomacy and made several trips overseas to open up dialogue as to show that Indonesia has changed for the better. Gus Dur was heavily involved in the World Economic Forum and building bridges between Indonesia and the rest of the world. At home, Gus Dur pacified two separatist movements. He convinced the leaders of the Papua separatists that he was a force of change and encouraged the usage of the name "Papua" instead of "Irian Jaya" and in Aceh, he opened up negotiations with the Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM), signing an memorandum of understanding.

In continuing to build democracy in Indonesia and reform the government, Gus Dur attempted to sack Wiranto from his ministerial position and removed some ministers, accusing them of corruption without evidence which promptly angered other political parties. Gus Dur also sought to remove military officers who were in the way of reformation within the military and to decrease their socio-political role within the society.

Gus Dur saw that the NU was a stagnant organization and he sought to reform the organization into becoming more modern and important in influencing the people's thoughts in Indonesia. For years, Soeharto has greatly reduced the powers of Islamic figures and political groups, seeing them as threat towards his grip on Indonesia. However, Gus Dur's ascendance as the chairman of the NU was received well by Soeharto, because Gus Dur is known for his Western education and moderate Islamic stances on politics compared to the stark raving radicals that primarily dominated the Islamic political bloc. Gus Dur used his chairmanship to reform pesantrens within Indonesia and to applicated sectarianist practices within Islamic education which garnered massive criticism from hardliners, but praise from most Indonesians.

Born in Denanyar at 7 September 1940, Gus Dur was half Arabic and half Chinese. He

At this time, the Sino-Soviet split was fully maturing as the Soviet Union under Khrushchev explicitly rejected Stalinism, pushed for a more sustainable communist model, and sought "peaceful coexistence" with the West, whereas the highly belligerent and ideologically dogmatic Mao Zedong was leading China down what looked like an uncomfortably Stalinesque. The West, however, was [[CriticalResearchFailure incorrectly of the view that all communists still presented a united front, and that what turned out to be an intense, violent, and very ''real'' feud between the two juggernauts of modern communism was merely a petty and easily resolvable dispute]]. Combined with the PKI's size and both the USSR's and China's enthusiasm in their relations with Soekarno's Indonesia (in fact part of their internecine competition, and not a sign of committed communism on Soekarno's part as Western experts surmised), the CIA felt it had to take action.

All of this contributed to his presidency drawing to a close. In the 1960's, confrontation with Malaysia politically and militarily damaged Indonesia's reputation in Asia and diplomatic relations with foreign countries especially the UK and Commonwealth countries. His failures in the domestic level gave rise to the Partai Komunis Indonesia (Indonesian Communist Party) who wanted to reverse his policies and turn Indonesia into a communist party. Soekarno ended up losing the support of many people and his political allies during this time, and became even more withdrawn from politics. On September 1965, the Indonesian Communist Party led an abortive coup attempt that killed six high ranking generals of the Indonesian Army. Soekarno's indifference towards the coup attempt was the last straw for his presidency, and after investigations were underway, the Army blamed the Indonesian Communist Party for sowing discord in Indonesia and killed every communist, communist sympathizers and suspected communists they could find over the course of 1965 and 1966. The Army's political faction, at this point led by General Soeharto, was lushly rewarded by Soekarno, [[BlatantLies without any coercion involved]], by way of Soeharto being appointed Acting President, then President once the purge concluded. Soeharto, so the textbooks inexplicably still claim, in turn thanked Soekarno for his lifetime of service to the Indonesian nation by seeing him off to a happy retirement.

Here is the list of the Presidents of Indonesia from it's independence in 1945 to now. The President of Indonesia is both the head of state and the head of government, exercising a lot of power within the Indonesian government and society. As Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country, 17th largest economy in the world by nominal GDP, 7th largest in terms of GDP (PPP), the largest economy in Southeast Asia and also the most militarily powerful within that region means that the Office of the President of Indonesia controls one of the most fast emerging country in the world.

When a president takes office, they reside in the Dutch colonial-style National Palace (Istana Negara), the official presidential residency located at the heart of Jakarta surrounded by other governmental complexes. Every Thursday, the palace's gates are usually crowded by a handful of social and human rights activists demonstrating against the government.

Every presidents of Indonesia has always been born in Java or has Javanese extraction with the sole exception of 3rd President Habibie, who was born in Celebes (modern day Sulawesi). This ongoing trend within Indonesia's history raises beliefs that only Javanese people can be president and deters many other candidates outside of Java from running for office.

The first President of Indonesia. Soekarno was born '''Koesno Sosrodihardjo''' on 6 June 1901 in Soerabaja (modern day Surabaya). Soekarno was the son of a Javanese teacher and nobleman to his Hindu Balinese wife. He was renamed after he survived a childhood illness following Javanese customs. Because of his father's high standing within the Dutch East Indies as a nobleman, Soekarno received better education than most kids his age, attending education in Dutch schools for his primary education. In his youth, Soekarno was a passionate scholar and a charming classmate, both qualities would define his character in later years. While attending higher education, Soekarno met with Tjokroaminoto, a respected figure within Java and a forerunner of Indonesian nationalism who would expose Soekarno to ideas of nationalism. He would go on to study civil engineering in Bandung, receiving an engineer's degree and began organizing study groups consisting of Indonesian students as a opposed to other study groups who were dominated by Dutch and Dutch-Indonesian students.

All of this contributed to his presidency drawing to a close. In the 1960's, confrontation with Malaysia politically and militarily damaged Indonesia's reputation in Asia and diplomatic relations with foreign countries especially the UK and Commonwealth countries. His failures in the domestic level gave rise to the Partai Komunis Indonesia (Indonesian Communist Party) who wanted to reverse his policies and turn Indonesia into a communist party. Soekarno ended up losing the support of many people and his political allies during this time, and became even more withdrawn from politics. On September 1965, the Indonesian Communist Party led an abortive coup attempt that killed six high ranking generals of the Indonesian Army. Soekarno's indifference towards the coup attempt was the last straw for his presidency, and after investigations were underway, the Army blamed the Indonesian Communist Party for sowing discord in Indonesia and killed every communists, communist sympathizers and suspected communists they can find in 1966. The Army's political faction, at this point led by General Soeharto, took over the government and overthrew Soekarno from his life long presidency. Soekarno was suspected of enabling the Communists from launching the coup attempt and was put on house arrest for the remainder of his life, the only fact that he's one of Indonesia's founding father sparing him from a death sentence.

Soekarno spent the rest of his life living under house arrest. The conditions of his house arrest was rather unbecoming and inappropriate for a former head of state and his health continued to deteriorate because of poor medical care. He later died on 1970 at the age of 69 from kidney failure, where his body is buried in Blitar, East Java.

The fourth President of Indonesia. '''Abdurrahman ad-Dakhil''' or '''Abdurrahman Wahid''' or commonly known by his nickname '''Gus Dur''' became the first president that is elected into office through free elections. While elections did exist for the Soekarno and Soeharto era, the validity of their elections was in question due simply because they were ''dictators''. Gus Dur was also blind. A raging intellectual, philosopher and Islamic scholar, Gus Dur was known for his astute mind and his penchant for progressive policies. He arguably attempted to ''westernize'' Indonesia with his controversial policies, which led to his impeachment by the Indonesian parliament. Nowadays, many Indonesians believed that his policies would be better suited in a modern climate.

The fourth President of Indonesia. '''Abdurrahman ad-Dakhil''' or '''Abdurrahman Wahid''' or commonly known by his nickname '''Gus Dur''' became the first president that is elected into office through free elections. While elections did exist for the Soekarno and Soeharto era, the validity of their elections was in question due simply because they were ''dictators''. A raging intellectual, philosopher and Islamic scholar, Gus Dur was known for his astute mind and his penchant for progressive policies. He arguably attempted to ''westernize'' Indonesia with his controversial policies, which led to his impeachment by the Indonesian parliament. Nowadays, many Indonesians believed that his policies would be better suited in a modern climate.

The fourth President of Indonesia. ''Abdurrahman ad-Dakhil'' or ''Abdurrahman Wahid'' or commonly known by his nickname ''Gus Dur'' became the first president that is elected into office through free elections. While elections did exist for the Soekarno and Soeharto era, the validity of their elections was in question due to being ''dictators''.