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| Background |
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With over 210 million people, Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country. Today the country faces massive social, political and economic challenges. In the wake of the devastating Asian financial crisis of 1997, and the collapse of the 32-year Suharto regime in 1998, many Indonesians hoped for a future free from corruption and repression. Elections in 1999 brought to power a government under Abdurrahman Wahid that relinquished state control of the media and has sought to address many of the country’s serious problems of governance. Yet despite these and other encouraging developments, the country faces worsening political, economic, ethnic and religious tensions that have repeatedly led to bloodshed.
The Wahid government is currently facing a crisis of credibility that leaves it unable to exercise effective control over the military, the parliament, or prominent economic actors, all of whom are seeking to maintain their respective power and influence. Even if President Wahid is replaced by the popular Vice-President Megawati, the government will continue to face tremendous obstacles. Though the economy expanded at a growth rate of nearly 4 percent in 2000, it needs major reform if it is ever to realize its vast potential.
In this same period, latent ethnic and religious tensions have erupted into violence in many parts of the archipelago and show few signs of abating. Following the breaking away of East Timor in 2000, separatists in the province of Aceh launched a new armed uprising aimed at achieving independence. In Irian Jaya (recently renamed West Papua), separatist activists are also challenging Indonesian rule. In the Molucca Islands, fighting between Christians and Muslims has led to more than 4,000 deaths since January 1999.
In addition to economic, political, ethnic and religious tensions, the sprawling archipelago experiences some 7,000 earthquakes a year. Large-scale and unsustainable logging operations have created environmental disaster areas in much of the country and have destroyed the habitat and livelihoods of indigenous peoples throughout the archipelago.
For more information, please see the briefing reports produced by the Program at http://www.preventconflict.org/portal/main/background_overview.php.
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