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View all search results1998 redux?
Almost 30 years later, there are still echoes of the past that stir a sense of déjà vu, along with anxiety that everything might once again collapse like a string of dominoes.
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'I quit’: Soeharto announces his resignation on May 21, 1998, as president of Indonesia at the Presidential Palace Complex in Central Jakarta. (Vice-Presidential Office/-)
Are we heading toward another crisis?
This question eerily lingers as we remember the resignation of former president Soeharto today.
A military general who had become a dictator and ruled the country for over three decades, he was forced to resign amid economic collapse and political turmoil that wiped away the long period of growth and stability he had built.
Almost 30 years later, there are still echoes of the past that stir a sense of déjà vu, along with anxiety that everything might once again collapse like a string of dominoes.
The rupiah has breached the psychological level of 17,000 per dollar, a rate that also occurred a few months before Soeharto’s resignation. The Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) also took a dive alongside the rupiah, with the benchmark index down 1.85 percent on Monday morning and plunged again by more than 3 percent on Tuesday.
As Soeharto’s former son-in-law, President Prabowo Subianto may well recognize the déjà vu. As commander of the Army Strategic Command (Kostrad) in 1998, he played a central role in maintaining stability during the protests and riots in Jakarta. After Soeharto resigned, Prabowo was held responsible for the abduction of activists and subsequently discharged from the military
Prabowo probably tried to shake off his own anxiety by saying that “people in the villages do not use the dollar” and “Indonesia is still okay” in his speech in Nganjuk, East Java, on Saturday, which then caused another public uproar.
