Abstract
Since its independence on the 17th of August 1945, Indonesia has been governed consecutively by five presidents. Among them, Retired Army Great General Soeharto managed to be president for more than 32 years. There were many factors making him succeed in reaching, promoting, as well as maintaining power for these years. Despite his ability to place the military forces and police, the civilian bureaucracy, the Functional Group called Golkar, as well as the conglomerates under his own tight control, he also managed to manipulate Javanese cultural values as the source of legitimacy for his decisions and policies. As a puritan Javanese, Soeharto believed that a number of traditional Javanese thoughts in the forms of guidance and prohibitions, when practiced, would not only make individuals but also the Indonesian people in general have a noble and generous mind, or ber budi bawa leksana, that is: the ones who are really good as the essence of goodness, or becik sajatining becik. He claimed that it would not be difficult for the Indonesian people to improve their consciousness as the nation of Indonesia in their state, government and social life on the basis of Pancasila, if they understood Javanese cultural values properly (Rukmana 1993:xi). Based on this belief, Soeharto then tried to convince people that his all decisions and policies were socially just and philosophically correct because they had been based on very high Javanese philosophical values. As for example, when he treated his enemy or rival, such as ex-President Soekarno, or when he responded the critiques launched by his rivals or enemies, like Sawito Kartowibowo, Jailani Naro, Soeryadi, Megawati Soekarnoputri, Abdurahman Wahid, Permadi, Sri Bintang Pamungkas, and Amien Rais, challenging his position as the President or asking questions about presidential succession, Soeharto knew how to manipulate Javanese cultural values in order to justify or even legitimize his decisions and policies.
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Notes
Almost every old Javanese home has a hole called “pawuhan” located in the back or the front yard, into which the owners throw their rubbish away and then burn.
In March 1967 MPRS or Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat Sementara (the Temporary People’s Consultative Assembly) through an extraordinary meeting elected General Soeharto as the Acting President. As the Acting President, he gradually imputed the authorities of Bung Karno as the Head of State, the President, and the Supreme Commander of the Military Forces. He was then appointed President on 27 March 1968.
Bung Karno was no longer president since 27 March 1968 after the Temporary People’s Consultative Assembly (MPRS) elected General Soeharto the second President replacing him. He passed away on 21 July 1970 and was buried in Blitar, close to his mother’s tomb.
Every press publication had to own SIUPP (Surat Ijin Usaha Penerbitan Press) or Business License for Press Publication. During the New Order regime the license became the instrument for controlling the press.
In December 1990 a group of Muslim intellectual held a symposium called National Symposium of Indonesian Muslim Intellectual in Malang, opened by President Soeharto and established ICMI or Ikatan Cendekiawan Muslim Indonesia (Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectual). BJ. Habibie was elected the first president of the association.
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Sarsito, T. Javanese culture as the source of legitimacy for Soeharto’s government. AEJ 4, 447–461 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10308-006-0078-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10308-006-0078-y