After organizing a campaign for Golkar in the first general election held under president Soeharto in mid-1971, I was wondering with Harry Tjan, my closest friend and compatriot in politics, what more important things we activists should do for the new Cabinet that Soeharto was composing at that time.

We discussed long-term planning and non-governmental input and advice for the new Soeharto administration. Both were important for a new political era. Every new administration must have its hands full of immediate and urgent problems, and would need a lot of help and support to think long term. Such a commitment was important as we were to know where we were going and where we were able to define policies for the short- and medium-term.

It could be critical for a new administration to get fresh ideas from outside the government, which had just overcome changes and a transitio...