Representing Indonesia's old guard of wealth and the military was Prabowo Subianto, a former general who has long been dogged by allegations of human rights abuses during his time in East Timor and during the 1998 riots that led to the resignation of Suharto. Running against him was Joko Widodo, the populist mayor of Jakarta and a man possibly over-burdened with platitudes such as 'humble', 'man of the people' and 'Obama-like'.
The election was framed as old versus new and it attracted huge interest not only across Indonesia but across the world. This would be the greatest test yet of Indonesia's status as the world's third largest democracy (India is first followed by the US). Jokowi – as he's nearly universally known – captured the imagination of many voters fed up with the nation's endemic corruption and concentration of power among a tiny elite. There were even predictions of a Joko landslide; he won on July 9 with just over 53% of the vote to Prabowo's nearly 47%.
Despite rumblings from Prabowo's camp that they would challenge the results, the election was finally certified two weeks later. It seemed the old guard had been defeated in fair and peaceful elections, although this simple line doesn't necessarily hold up given that Joko's vice president is Jusuf Kalla, who held the same post under SBY from 2004 to 2009, and many other old guard stalwarts found their way into the administration. Interestingly, the coalition led by Prabowo won nearly 60% of the seats in the legislature, the People's Representative Council. At least at first they seemed content to work with Joko, although the long-term prospects of such cooperative spirit were by no means assured.
Timeline
60,000–40,000 BC
Indonesia’s western islands are still part of the Asian mainland. The first Homo sapiens arrive, probably ancestors of the Melanesians in today’s population, who are now mainly in Papua.
About 8000 BC
Sea levels rise after the end of the last glacial period, separating Sumatra, Borneo, Java and Bali from the Asian mainland, and the island of New Guinea from Australia.
About 2000 BC
Austronesian people originating from Taiwan start to arrive in Indonesia, probably by sea routes. They absorb or displace Melanesians. The earliest evidence of settlement dates from the 6th century BC.
500–1 BC
Local trade routes mesh with mainland Asia’s. Chinese iron tools, large Vietnamese bronze drums and Indian glass beads reach Indonesia. Local products such as spices reach India and China.
5th century AD
Under influence from India, some Indonesian trading ports turn from animism to Hinduism or Buddhism. Indonesia’s earliest known inscriptions are carved in west Java and near Kutai, Kalimantan.
6th century
Muslim traders begin arriving in Indonesian ports bringing their religion as well as goods for trade. Over the next few centuries, thriving Muslim communities are established.
7th century
Farmers flourish by growing rice on lush islands across the archipelago. Terraces and complex irrigation systems are developed, allowing wealth to be accumulated.
7th–13th centuries
Buddhist Sriwijaya in southeast Sumatra dominates in western Indonesia. It may have been a collection of ports or a single state; its trade routes reached China and India.
8th–9th centuries
The Buddhist Sailendra and Hindu Sanjaya (or Mataram) kingdoms flourish on Java’s central plains, creating the huge – and still standing – Borobudur and Prambanan temple complexes respectively.
1292
Marco Polo stops off in Sumatra on his way from China back to Persia, becoming the first of an all-star line-up of explorers to visit the islands.
1294–1478
The Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit kingdom, based in eastern Java, monopolises trade between Sumatra and China and exacts tribute from across Indonesia. The splendid Majapahit court is imitated by many later Indonesian states.
13th–15th centuries
Influenced by Arab merchants, two north Sumatran towns adopt Islam, followed by Melaka on the Malay peninsula, the eastern island of Ternate and northern Java ports including Demak, which conquers Majapahit.
1505
Portuguese ships reach Indonesian waters. Interested in spices, the Portuguese go on to establish trading settlements across the archipelago, joining Indians, Arabs, Chinese, Malays and islanders in the sea trade.
1520
Java's complete conversion to Islam means that Bali is isolated as a Hindu island. Religious and artistic refugees from Java greatly strengthen Bali's culture which flourishes.
16th–17th centuries
Islam continues to spread around Indonesian ports. The Islamic Mataram kingdom is founded (1581) in the lands of the old Hindu Sanjaya kingdom in central Java.
1595
Four small Dutch ships reach the pepper port Banten in northwest Java. Despite setbacks, the expedition returns home with enough spices to make a small profit.
1602
Holland merges competing merchant companies into the VOC (United East Indian Company). It aims to drive other European nations out of Asian trade, especially in spices.
1611–1700
From its headquarters at Batavia (now Jakarta), the VOC expands its control through deals, alliances and battles. A chain of Dutch-controlled ports leads to the Spice Islands.
1667
The Dutch gain complete control of the Banda Islands and in return give the British a little island in their North America colony named Manhattan.
1670–1755
VOC exploits Mataram’s internal turmoils to win control of the kingdom. In 1755 it splits Mataram into two kingdoms, with capitals at Yogyakarta and Surakarta (Solo) and now controls Java.
1795–1824
In the Napoleonic Wars, Britain seizes the possessions of the Dutch East Indies. An 1824 agreement divides the region between the Dutch and British; the borders are similar to modern Indonesia and Malaysia.
1800
The now overstretched, corrupt and bankrupt VOC is wound up. Its territories pass to the Netherlands crown, converting a trading empire into a colonial one, the Netherlands East Indies.
1815
In the biggest explosion in modern history, Gunung Tambora on Sumbawa erupts. Tens of thousands die on the island; the ash cloud results in 1816 being dubbed 'the year without summer' across the northern hemisphere, which suffers famine and disease.
1825–30
Prince Diponegoro, supported by many Muslims, the poor and some fellow Javanese aristocrats, rebels against the Dutch and their vassals. Some 200,000 Javanese die, most from famine and disease.
1820s–1910
Holland takes control of nearly all the archipelago through economic expansion, agreements with local aristocrats and warfare. Many aristocrats become representatives of the Dutch administration.
1830–70
The Cultivation System: two million Javanese peasants have to grow and pay tax on export crops (coffee, tea, tobacco, indigo, sugar). Holland is saved from bankruptcy, but most peasants suffer.
1830
Slavery, which had flourished among various kingdoms and sultanates, goes into final decline when the Balinese royalty renounce the practice. Proceeds had been used to finance wars and palaces.
1845–1900
Private (European) enterprise is encouraged, forced cultivation is slowly wound down. Transportation infrastructure is greatly improved. Notoriously brutal rubber and tobacco plantations develop on Sumatra.
1883
Mt Krakatoa blows, almost completely destroying the namesake island in the Sumba Strait between Java and Sumatra. It's considered the loudest noise in recorded history.
1901
The Ethical Policy is introduced to raise Indonesian welfare through better irrigation, education and health but Europeans benefit most. The growth of cities spawns a new Indonesian middle class.
1912
Sarekat Islam (Islamic Union) emerges as a Javanese Muslim economic assistance group
, with anti-Christian and anti-Chinese tendencies. Linking with other groups, it grows into a million-member anticolonial movement.
1920
The Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) is founded. A pro-independence party with support from urbanites, it is sidelined when uprisings in Java (1926) and Sumatra (1927) are suppressed by the Dutch.
1927
The Indonesian National Party (PNI) emerges, led by a young engineer, Sukarno. It grows quickly into the most powerful pro-independence organisation. In 1930 its leaders are jailed.
1928
Nationalism is given a boost when the All Indonesia Youth Congress proclaims its historic Youth Pledge, establishing goals of one national identity and one language (Bahasa Indonesia).
1930s
The Dutch East Indies provides most of the quinine used in the world's tonic water, to the delight of gin lovers everywhere. Pepper, rubber and oil are also major exports.
1936
Americans Robert and Louise Koke build simple bamboo bungalows on Bali's otherwise deserted Kuta Beach. They also introduce a sport called surfing they had learned in Hawaii.
1942
Japan invades Indonesia with little resistance. Europeans are sent to prison camps. Indonesians initially welcome the Japanese as liberators, but sentiment changes with the harshness of the occupation.
1942–45
The Japanese collaborate with nationalist leaders because of their anti-Dutch sentiments, and establish an Indonesian militia that later forms the backbone of the anti-Dutch resistance after WWII.
Aug 1945
Japan surrenders. Indonesian nationalist students kidnap Sukarno and Hatta and pressure them to declare independence, which they do on 17 August. Sukarno becomes president and Hatta vice-president.
Sep–Nov 1945
Allied troops suppress the nationalists. Sukarno wants independence through diplomacy, but other nationalists want to fight. The Battle of Surabaya between British and nationalist forces leaves thousands dead.
1946–49
Dutch troops arrive to regain control; the nationalists form a Republican Army. Despite Dutch offensives and rifts between Sukarno’s government, Muslim movements and the Communists, resistance continues.
1949
Faced with an unwinnable war and hostile international opinion, the Netherlands transfers sovereignty over the Dutch East Indies (apart from Netherlands New Guinea) to the Indonesian republic.
1950–62
Armed movements challenge the republic. Darul Islam (House of Islam) wages guerrilla war in several islands, continuing until 1962 in western Java. Regionalist rebellions break out in Sumatra and Sulawesi.
1955
The PNI, regarded as Sukarno’s party, tops the polls in much-postponed parliamentary elections, but no clear winner emerges. Short-lived coalition governments continue. The economy struggles after commodity prices drop.
1957
Sukarno proclaims ‘Guided Democracy’, in the village tradition of achieving consensus through discussion. A military-Muslim-communist coalition replaces Western-style democracy. The army becomes the bedrock of national unity.
1961–63
With the economy in the doldrums, Sukarno is aggressive towards Netherlands New Guinea. Indonesia takes control there in 1963. Subsequent opposition from the local Papuan people is brutally put down.
1963–66
Sukarno stages konfrontasi (confrontation) with the newly formed Malaysia. Fighting takes place along the Indonesia–Malaysia border in Borneo. The communist party (PKI) organises land seizures by hungry peasants.
1964–65
Worried by the military’s power, Sukarno decides to arm the communist party by creating a new militia, heightening tensions with the regular forces. Rumours of a planned communist coup circulate.
1965
On 1 October, military rebels shoot dead six top generals in and near Jakarta. General Suharto mobilises forces against the rebels; the coup fails after only a day of fighting.
1965–1966
The armed forces and armed anti-communist civilians take the attempted coup as a cue to slaughter communists and supposed communists. More than 500,000 are killed, chiefly in Java, Bali and Sumatra.
1966–1968
When Suharto’s troops surround his palace, Sukarno signs the 11 March Order (1966), permitting Suharto to act independently. After anti-Sukarno purges, the MPR names Suharto president (March 1968).
1967
Suharto’s ‘New Order’, supported by the West, holds Indonesia together under military dictatorship for the next 30 years. The economy develops, dissent is crushed and corruption rages.
1971
The army party Golkar wins 236 of the 360 elective seats in the MPR, which now also includes 276 military and 207 Suharto appointees. Few believe this veneer of pseudo-democracy.
1973
Opposition parties are compulsorily merged – the Muslim parties into the Development Unity Party (PPP) and others into the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI). Political activity in villages is banned.
1975
Indonesia invades and annexes former Portuguese colony East Timor, where left-wing party Fretilin has won a power struggle. A 20-year guerrilla war begins; over 125,000 die in fighting, famines and repression.
1979–84
The government’s transmigration program reaches its peak with almost 2.5 million people moving to outer islands from overpopulated Java, Bali and Madura before the program ends in 2000.
1989
The Free Aceh Movement (GAM), founded in 1976, reemerges as a guerrilla force, fighting for independence for the conservatively Islamic Sumatran region. An estimated 15,000 people die through 2005.
1990s
NGOs, many of them started by young middle-class Indonesians, emerge as a focus of dissent, campaigning on issues from peasant dispossessions to destructive logging and restrictions on Islamic organisations.
1997–1998
The Asian currency crisis savages Indonesia’s economy. After troops kill four at a Jakarta demonstration in May 1998, rioting and looting cause an estimated 1200 deaths. Suharto quits on 21 May.
1998
Vice President BJ Habibie becomes president. He releases political prisoners and relaxes censorship, but the army kills at least 12 in a Jakarta student protest. Christian/Muslim violence erupts in Jakarta and Maluku.
1999
Some 78% vote for independence in East Timor. Militias backed by Indonesian military conduct a terror campaign before and after the vote. The region finally achieves independence in 2002.
Jun–Oct 1999
Following Indonesia’s first free election since 1955, Abdurrahman Wahid of the country’s largest Islamic organisation, Nahdlatul Ulama (Rise of the Scholars), becomes president as leader of a multi-party coalition.
1999–2001
Wahid tries to reform government, tackle corruption, reduce military power, bring Suharto to justice and address the grievances of Aceh and Papua. But his efforts are hamstrung by opponents.
2001
Violence erupts in Kalimantan between indigenous Dayaks and Madurese migrants. Over a million people are displaced by conflicts in Timor-Leste, Maluku, Kalimantan and elsewhere. Wahid is deposed.
2001–04
Vice-president Megawati Sukarnoputri, Sukarno’s daughter, leading the PDI-P (Indonesian Democratic Party – Struggle) and supported by conservative elements, succeeds Wahid.
2002–05
Terrorist bombs in Kuta, Bali, in 2002 kill over 200, mainly foreign tourists. The Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiah is blamed. Another series of bombs in Bali in 2005 kills 20.
2004
Anticorruption group Transparency International puts Suharto at the top of its all-time world corruption table, with an alleged embezzlement figure of between US$15 billion and US$35 billion from his 32 years in power.
Oct 2004
In Indonesia’s first direct presidential ele
ctions, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) of the new Democratic Party, a former general regarded as a liberal, wins a run-off vote against Megawati.
Dec 2004
Over 200,000 Indonesians die in the 26 December tsunami that devastates large areas of Sumatra, especially Aceh. SBY restarts peace talks there, leading to a peace deal in 2005.
2004–onwards
SBY and his successor see progress against B-list corruption. The army is edged away from politics and most of its business enterprises.
2006
Bantul, near Yogyakarta, is hit by an earthquake on 27 May – 5800 die and 200,000 are left homeless across central Java. Another 700 die in a 17 July temblor.
2009
SBY is re-elected president with over 60% of the vote.
2012
Bali's ancient rice terraces and irrigation system (subak) gain Unesco World Heritage status, the first such designation in Indonesia since 2004 and only the eighth overall.
2014
Joko Widodo is elected president with 53% of the vote.
2014–15
Over 350 people are killed in a string of Indonesian aviation disasters including 162 in the crash of an Indonesian AirAsia flight off the coast of Java.
Culture
Across Indonesia's 17,000-odd islands you can hear over 300 different spoken languages and find a range of people from middle-class sophisticates of Jakarta, to subsistence communities speaking tribal dialects and following animist traditions deep in the mountains of West Timor. And then there are the cultural expressions, from the incredible richness of Bali to the buttoned-down conservatism of Aceh. Yet despite this diversity, almost everybody can speak one language: Bahasa Indonesia, a tongue that helps unify this sprawling, chaotic collection of peoples.
National Identity
Indonesia comprises a massively diverse range of societies and cultures; the differences between, say, the Sumbanese and Sundanese are as marked as those between the Swedes and Sicilians. Even so, a strong national Indonesian identity has emerged, originally through the struggle for independence and, following that, through education programs and the promotion of Bahasa Indonesia as the national language. This is despite the fact that Indonesia continues to be stretched by opposing forces: 'strict' Islam versus 'moderate' Islam, Islam versus Christianity versus Hinduism, outer islands versus Java, country versus city, modern versus traditional, rich versus poor, the modern world versus the past.
Lonely Planet Indonesia Page 141
