The Political System Of Indonesia

Enslaved, starved, drained, and murdered. These were the conditions that the citizens of Indonesia had endured while being forcefully colonized by the Dutch East India Trading Company. The Dutch along with other European countries began the forced colonization around the world. Dutch and British East India Trading Companies were the most powerful; however, they differed from each other greatly. While the British were slow and gradual during their takeover of India, the Dutch heavily contrasted with that by rapidly wiping out and conquering the Islands of Indonesia with much tyranny and bloodshed. The Dutch Colonization possessed massive injustice against Indonesian people and greatly harmed them in two major ways, exploitation and violence.

Before Western European influences had power over Southeast Asia, what is known as Indonesia used to be an archipelago which consisted of individual islands and plantations ruled by different empires. Occasionally living in peaceful coexistence yet at times being at war with each other due to the lack of social and political unity that Indonesia has in todays society. Integrated trade networks, began developing starting from the early evidence of Asian history. Being connected to trade networks was an advantage for empires to gain wealth and resources, necessary to become a powerful influence. the more foreign influences managed to enter, this development as these trade networks in the archipelago became more global, eventually lead to the colonial state. A significant matter to the history of Indonesia, it generally centres on the western part of the

In the article “Native Planet: Mentawai” it shows that the people have strong beliefs in religion and school. The children are instructed to go to school in a uniform as a sign of respect and to look formal. The people like to dress nice to show beauty. In their society, there is no crime, adultery, or war, because everything is ordered and written in laws. Their culture also consists of sikeiries, who are the leaders of the Mentawai tribes. The Indonesian Government practices Jarayak, while the people practice animism. Now, all Indonesians are required to choose a religion (Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, or Islam). Over time, they realized, Christian and Islamic beliefs are bad for their culture, because pigs are very important in Indonesian foods. Pigs are a great source of protein, and converting to Islamic ways meant they could no longer eat pork, and many Indonesian tribes disliked this idea because they love pig.

Indonesia and Philippines have similarities yet very different political system even though there are located in the Southeast Asia region. Both states are considered to be electoral democratic regime according to Larry Diamond’s sixfold typology (Dayley & Neher, 2013, p. 21). Interestingly, both states received a relatively good freedom rating in Southeast Asia by Freedom House in 2016, which is 3- partly free. Thus, Indonesia and Philippines are chosen as the research subject in this assignment as the non-democratic regime states for the comparison analysis.

From 1580 to 1640, the throne of Portugal was held by the Habsburg kings of Spain. This period marked a phase of decline for the Portuguese Empire. Spain's enemies, such as the Netherlands and England, coveted their overseas wealth, and in many cases found it easier to attack poorly-defended Portuguese outposts than Spanish ones; Spain also pursued a policy of neglect of the Portuguese colonies it now controlled. Although Dutch colonies in Brazil were wiped out, over the 17th century the Dutch were able to occupy Ceylon, the Cape of Good Hope, and the East Indies, and to take over the trade with Japan at Nagasaki. Portugal's Pacific territories were reduced to the bases at Macao and East Timor.

Hadiwinata/Christoph Schuck (Eds.), Democracy in Indonesia: The Challenge of Consolidation (Baden-Baden: Nomos-Verlag, 2007), p. 46-47.

Entering the Early Independence Era, the Dutch’s role was getting weaker and replaced by the Japanese. However, the Japanese occupation had been just a while before they surrendered to the allies after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki City. Consequently, a power vacuum occurred in Indonesia that later used by the youth along with President Soekarno and the Vice President Mohammad Hatta to proclaim the independence of Indonesia as a state.

After four long years of fighting and tense negotiations, the Dutch finally recognized Indonesian independence at the end of 1949. The President of this new fledgling nation was a man by the name of Achmad Sukarno, and he would lead this nation through its revolution in 1945 up until 1967 when he was forced to resign. His reign was one of founding, which demeaned the idea of parliamentary democracy as inappropriate for the Indonesian people, and so he adopted a policy known as Guided democracy, a type of autocratic rule. But due to the diversity of both the people and radical differences of political parties within this new weak state and the uneven representation of political factions, this governmental system was doomed to fail. The instability of the new Indonesian government coupled with the attempts of Indonesia’s first president to pit different

countries too. Portugal had a big role in the colonization of a lot of Africa and

After Suharto ended his long dictatorial reign in 1998 there was a substantial increase in religious and ethnic conflict in Indonesia. Author Jacques Bertrand claims religious and ethnic conflict defined Indonesia’s national model. This resulted in three critical junctures during Suharto’s retirement of his sovereign rule. The three critical junctures defined Indonesia’s “terms of citizenship, and give meaning to the structure and procedures of an institution” (Bertrand, 20). When Suharto left as dictator, major political and social changes consumed Indonesia, which threatened the Indonesian realm. The people of Indonesia struggled to define their sense of nationalism.

As a Junior in high school, my history teacher taught us that our native country, Indonesia, was colonized by the Dutch for 350 years beginning in the year 1595. The Netherlands is one of the European countries that established itself over other countries in order to take advantage of them, in this case to take advantage of Indonesia's rich land and resources. Indonesia is a land rich in spices, rice, sugar, tea, coffee, and other products desirable for export. The Dutch colonized us with the purpose of monopolizing our trade. Because of the profits obtained from Indonesia's most important resource, that of its spices, the Netherlands took tremendous wealth from our land.

Technically it’s not the Dutch that ruled Indonesia but “VOC” a “Dutch commercial empire and became the paramount power of the archipelago” (Britannica par.1). In the 17th century there were 3 western European countries looking to colonize and take over Indonesia, the Portuguese, The British, and The Dutch. “ It (the dutch) captured Malacca from the Portuguese(1641), confined the British to a factory in Bengkulu and established a network of factories in the eastern islands” (Brittanica par. 3).“The Dutch trading company has been a major power in Asian trade since the early 1600s” (Indonesia-investments par.1). The Europeans were driven by a new imperialism-mentality and the “European nations were competing for colonies outside the European continent for both economic motives and status.” (Indonesia-investments par.11). The Dutch did not have intentions of making a better country or improving Indonesia as a whole but instead the Dutch just took apart Indonesia, with its Spice and crops and in Dark times around the Javanese war when the Dutch were in financial burden they imposed taxing laws on the Indonesians and wanted the Indonesians to sell all their crops and sell all of what they own. “the Dutch state income generated from the Javanese colony- reached about 33 percent” (Indonesia- investments par. 23). The Dutch created a super- empire that ruled

Indonesia is the result of globalization, so is the world. During the Age of Exploration, one of the major incidents was the relationship between India and Indonesia. Indian traders and missionaries helped shape the Indonesia we know today. Piles of evidence indicate India’s presence both before and during the Age of Exploration. A source (Verma, Deepti.) claimed that there are evidences that prove India’s presence in Indonesia around the 200th BC. Around the 8th century, Indonesia was starting to be greatly influence by the Indians; in fact many kingdoms, such as the Majapahit, Cailendra, and Srivijaya empire, were heavily influenced by India as it is with some areas in now days Indonesia. Through globalization, the Indian traders and missionaries

Going back further in history on why the Dutch decided to colonize what is now modern Indonesia was because they were violently attacked by their neighbor, Germany, for five years. After having dealt with Germany, the Dutch finally received some reinforcements. With the help of reinforcements, the Dutch were liberated. After they

In 2012, Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok) won Jakarta Gubernatorial Election. They won on both rounds defeating five other incumbents, Fauzi Bowo and Nachrowi Ramli, Hendardji Soepandji and Ahmad Riza Patria, Hidayat Nur Wahid and Didik Junaidi Rachbini, Faisal Batubara and Biem Triani Benjamin, and Alex Noerdin and Nono Sampono (Komisi Pemilihan Umum, 2012a). Quick count of first round showed a result of 42.6 per cent and the second showed 53.82 per cent (Komisi Pemilihan Umum, 2012a; Komisi Pemilihan Umum, 2012b). Their rival at the second round were Fauzi Wibowo (Foke), the previous governor of Jakarta and Nachrowi Ramli (Nara), the regional