Twenty-eight years ago today, on May 21, 1998, Soeharto resigned as Indonesia's second president, ending a 32-year authoritarian regime and launching the country on a democratic journey that continues to define Southeast Asian politics.
The resignation came amid mass protests and economic collapse following the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, which devastated Indonesia's economy and exposed the corruption and fragility beneath the regime's facade of development and stability. Soeharto's departure ushered in the Reformasi era, beginning with the ascension of Vice President B.J. Habibie and culminating in Indonesia's transformation into the world's third-largest democracy.
The anniversary arrives at a moment of reflection and some ambivalence about Indonesia's democratic consolidation. A popular phrase captures this tension: "Piye kabare? Penak jamanku to?" (How are things? My era was better, wasn't it?) - words associated with nostalgic longing for the Suharto years despite their authoritarian character.
This nostalgia, whether expressed jokingly or seriously, reflects genuine frustrations with aspects of Indonesia's democratic era: political gridlock, corruption that persists despite greater transparency, and economic anxieties that continue to affect ordinary Indonesians. Yet it also reveals a selective memory that overlooks the repression, disappeared activists, and stifled freedoms that characterized the New Order regime.
Indonesia's democratic journey since 1998 has been remarkable by any measure. The country has successfully conducted multiple free and fair elections, transferred power peacefully between competing parties, maintained civilian control over the military, and preserved a vibrant free press and civil society. In a region where Thailand has experienced repeated coups, Myanmar's democracy collapsed into military rule, and authoritarian tendencies have strengthened in the Philippines, Indonesia's democratic resilience stands out.
Yet concerns about democratic backsliding have grown, particularly regarding creeping authoritarianism, the weakening of anti-corruption institutions, and the political dynasties that increasingly dominate electoral politics. The recent constitutional court controversies and questions about institutional independence have renewed debates about whether Indonesia's democratic gains are secure.
In Indonesia, as across archipelagic democracies, unity in diversity requires constant negotiation across islands, ethnicities, and beliefs. The Reformasi project was always about more than removing one authoritarian leader - it was about building institutions that could manage Indonesia's extraordinary diversity democratically.
The test of Indonesia's democratic maturity lies not in the absence of challenges but in how its institutions, civil society, and citizens respond to them. Twenty-eight years on, the country continues to navigate the tension between the democratic ideals of Reformasi and the persistent temptations of strongman politics.
