Endy Byuni

CHIEF EDITOR 2004-2010

The picture of then president Soeharto signing a new loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund as IMF managing director Michel Camdessus stood nearby with arms folded, tells many stories, depending on your political perspective. To some, the photo, shot in Jakarta on Jan.

15, 1998, and published in The Jakarta Post the next day, symbolizes the ultimate national humiliation, as the country, on the verge of bankruptcy and facing a mountain of unpaid debt, virtually surrendered its economic sovereignty to the IMF.

For others, it marked the beginning of the end for Indonesia's strongman, proving that the general who had ruled the nation for more than three decades turned out to be weak and not so infallible after all. January also saw the start of the student-led people power protests that eventually forced Soeharto to quit in May.

The big mess the IMF made out of the bailout and further economic deterioration added to the pressures on Soeharto. This photo is one of the best and certainly the most memorable image captured by the late Alex Lumi, the Post's longtime photographer.

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