With the start of the Indonesian elections today I thought it might be good to include a little background on the history of politics in Bali.
The Dutch first landed in Bali on February 9th 1597. The Dutch East India Company was formed in 1602 and set about expanding its business from its base in Batavia (Jakarta) to Borneo, Sumatra and islands to the east. Existing regional feuds were used by the Dutch to manouever their way in and exploit local people all across the region. In January 1909 after a series of bloody encounters and the suicide of royal courts in various regencies in Bali in the island came under full Dutch control.
While Java was being exploited for its natural resources and plantations for rubber, sugar, tabacco and tea, Bali was something of a backwater. Up until the 1920’s only a handfull of tourists ventured to Bali. The advent of the KPM (Royal Packet Navigation Company ) gave Bali a weekly steamship connection with Singapore, Batavia, Semarang, Surabaya and Makassar. The airport in Tuban opened in 1938 and by then expats including Walter Spies, Bob and Loiuse Koko and Arie Smits were living in Bali.
WWII brought the Japanese to Bali on February 18th 1942 and this meant the temporary exit of the Dutch colonial rulers. The Japanese occupation was fairly short and gave the Indonesians an indication that the Dutch were vulnerable. They also released the founder of the Nationalist Party, Sukarno from jail along with 2 of his comrades, Dr.Mohammed Hatta and Sutan Sjarir.
The Japanese surrendered on August 14th 1945 and 3 days later Indonesia’s first President, Sukarno gave a Declaration of Independence.
Unfortunately the Dutch were not about to hand over their money making engine in SE Asia and in March 1946 returned to try to retake the country. Guerilla fighting slowed the Dutch in Java and Bali and by 1948 the Dutch had lost the islands to the west of Bali and created the Republic of East Indonesia, Bali being an autonomous state within.
Outside political factors including world opinion and the US concerns over Marshall Plan money being used to regain colonial territory made the Dutch position vulnerable. A UN Security Council order forced the Dutch to withdraw forces from Indonesia and the United States of Indonesia was formed in December 1949. The Republic of Indonesia was formed the following year with Sukarno as President.
The Sukarno regime was not a smooth one and included various attempted coups in some of the islands, economic downturn, mismanagement and in 1959 parliament was abolished for martial rule.This was termed ‘guided democracy’ and was a hinderance to foriegn investment.
All this while the Balinese grew uneasy at the power from Jakarta, something that exists today.
The big event that came along and led to an era of strong leadership was the arrival of Major General Suharto. People say they don’t know exactly what occured on the night of September 30th 1965 but it seems that a group of young army officers killed six high level generals claiming they were planning a coup. This was blamed on the Communist Party and left the way clear for Suharto to gain control of the military and dominate Sukarno. To top off the violent arrival of Suharto, massacres occured all over the country of communist ’suspects’. In the next 4 years up to 100,000 people in Bali and 50,000 in Lombok were murdered. When people say Suharto ‘got rid of problems’ they weren’t kidding.
In March 1968 after manouvering and clearing a path for himself Suharto became Indonesia’s second President. The ‘New Order’ was to last for just over 30 years and brought some degree of stability to the country. Suharto’s plan to curb inflation, encourage foreign investment and develop Indonesia’s natural resources was quite successful. The basic necessities for daily life were there for most Indonesians and the country was getting started as a world economy. Of course Suharto and his large family were helping themselves liberally to advantages and rewards of power. Tommy Suharto grabbed large chunks of land in Bali for his projects and is still in jail.
Suharto managed to stay in power for so long by controlling the opposition. He won several elections. In 1996 Suharto’s government cleverly organized a special congress of the opposition PDI party to expel Megawati Sukarnoputri. She had been gathering momentum as a politician and as Sukarno’s daughter was too high profile to simply ‘whack’.
Rioting it Jakarta and the Asian economic crisis of 1997 was the final straw. I remember visiting Indonesia in 1993 and the exchange rate was 2,000rp to the dollar. The crisis sent the rupiah tumbling to 10,000:$1.
Unemployment and the soaring costs of fuel, food and other basic necessities led to Suharto’s resignation on May 21st 1998. The new President B.J Habibie was one of Suharto’s lackies and wasn’t popular.
The violence and subsequent independence in East Timor, plus a huge bank scandle where public funds were diverted to the Golkar Party (Habibie’s) led to fresh elections in 1999.
The results of the general election gave Megawati a clear margin over Habibie and his Golkar Party and Abdurrahmam Wahid (PKB National Awakening Party). The presidental election gave the winner as Wahid, which led to massive rioting in Bali with the destruction of government buildings. The Balinese identify with Megawati as her maternal grandmother was Balinese and distrust Java. This was the last straw.
President Wahid proved to as eccentric and incapable leader and after 21 months Megawati Sukarnoputri became the fifth President of Indonesia on July 23rd 2001.
Will Mega regain the presidency? Probably not. While not the authoritarian that Suharto was and seemingly less corrupt the rate of change in the country is slow and corruption is rife. The relative cost of the basic necessities is now greater than when Suharto was in power.
Today in Seminyak there were popular businesses that were closed including Cafe Moka and some of the other breakfast joints. I asked Hendra at Internet Outpost if he was going to vote. He’s from Java and somehow they screwed up his voter registration so he won’t get a chance this time. If I didn’t know it was election day today I wouldn’t notice according the activity on the street. Let’s hope things continue like this and we get the best result for the country.
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Nick question time ?
I have to say your photography work thrughout this site is second to none.
I have trawled throughout this site cheking out your photos mate and as Barrie from Perth quite often remarks about your photos i would have to second that.
I have just checked out Flying back from Brunei - dated last Septemberish
and the photos from the Big Bird are abssolutely fantastic mate - Resolution,clarification and visually perfect. Now what Camera did you use for that and secondly you have obviously done a bit of basic photography classes i take it. If not well done mate. I have often taken photos from an Aeroplane but never got anything like the results you did.
I am currently doing a bit of Freelance I.T. work in Lndon but will be stopping this soon to take up a job a bit more exciting, if not a lot more dangerous as a Freelance War photographer. This will certainly enable me to travel, but i could do with knowing your Camera Spec for those pics mate. Its going to make all the difference mate on how much i can make if i get the best pics - Right place right time, but most impotantly if i get the best scoop for more sheckles i need the clarification mate.
What makes your site is not only your ability to report in words what is going on in Bali but also to give us the photos to put us right in the frame mate.
Well done
Later Mark…
Mark,
So far everything has gone smoothly in Kuta, no trouble, very quiet, som,e places closed but others open.
Lovely sunny day at the beach and plenty of tourists enjoying their holiday.
I’ve been asking locals who they voted for and most smile and say ’secret’. A couple told me they voted for PDI and when I asked them to tell me more about PDI they said “Don’t know, banyak orang (many people) like PDI.” Basically go with the flow.
Thank NIck,
Basically from what you have reported N
ick i do not thing even the locals know who there voting for mate.!!!
Cheers
Thank NIck,
Basically from what you have reported N
ick i do not thing even the locals know who there voting for mate.!!!
Cheers
Bali has always been a PDI-P stronghold for Mega. However, in the other islands it’s an entirely different ball game.
In the main, most Indonesians go with the flow except of course for those radical elements within Indonesian society. Then it becomes a matter of religious fanaticism.
Mark,
Not just ordinary people of the street, even for people like me, who try to keep up with the news everyday, it’s really hard for us to find out any information regarding on who we’re voting on. Aside from the usual news on the media, we really don’t have a clue on our candidates, especially for this first round of voting. No public debate, no elaborate speech, just the usual “pep rally” with lots of rhetoric, free t-shirts, free “nasi bungkus”, and dangdut concerts.
There is a faint of light at the end of the tunnel though. For the first time, our votes finally decide who gets to be state representatives (in this first round) and president & vice-president (in the next round). Before, we can only vote for individual party. The winning parties (usually Golkar & Suharto) and their cronnies then decide who gets to be the president, vice-president, state-reps, etc. Regional accountability is actually possible now. People in Bali may not know much about their soon-to-be representatives but at least they will know who to blame in Bali (for the next election) when things doesn’t get better.
I and many of my friends and family in Indonesia are keeping our finger cross. We realize that this year election is far from what you guys normally have in your countries, but we have accepted it as the right step forward.
Bob,
Let’s all hope & pray that whom ever does become elected in Bali… Put’s the Islands needs first, not what Jkt tell them too!
Better schooling & Medical treatment would be fairly high up on the cards I’d imagine.
Talk about Indonesia Politic and Election, no way !!!!!!!!!!!
I am 32 years old but I never join the election in my life maybe forever. I think it’s nonsense to join it. Corruption, Colution and Nepotism are still doing by Indonesian government. It’s very - very difficult to find a job. Most of Indonesian are jobless.
So talk about indonesian politic and election, no way !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks Bob/
From what you have said and Marqeau has commented i can understand peoples way of thinking towards politics and the frustrations held. I hope things get better but cannot help thinking for every couple of good guys there are also a couple of corrupt ******** as well.
Thank/Regards
Sparky
Nick/
Basically from what i can gather the Indo Elections are a bit of a waste of time, because a bit like the police force who ever gains control they are going to have there own corrupt ways - ie They are all corrupt Bastards looking after their own sels first and the people second. A bit like a lot of governments fools wouldnt you agree?
Keep us informed Nick what the mood is locally or are you planning to get on your 2 wheels stock up on Bintangs, grab some scoff and head off somewhere out the way till the elections are over.
Perhaps not a bad idea if everything shuts down as predicted.
Enjoy !
Mark..