Author: Akbar Aji *)
Who isn’t horrified to hear the name Suharto? Yes, Suharto once led Indonesia authoritatively, put forward his thoughts and put aside people’s freedom democracy. Many old people did not want to return to the bleak times of the New Order. KKN, restrictions on opinion, press banning, discrimination, until the monetary crisis are some of the small things that happened during the New Order era.
Lately, President Prabowo Subianto issued a statement that he would take Indonesia into the New Order era. Prabowo openly said he would continue the New Order if later elected in the 2019 Presidential Election. This was criticized by many groups, especially the parents who were victims of the New Order atrocities.
Speaking of the New Order, it certainly cannot be separated from system failure, violence, poverty, Community Service Program, and others.
Press Silenced
New Order looks calm on the outside. Not because of the lack of crime and poverty, but because the press was silenced. Freedom of the press in delivering the news and aspirations of the people bound by the state through the Department of Information. Media that remain critical of the government, such as Tempo and Detik, will be banned. This means that the issuance permit is revoked. Individuals who are still desperately critical will be labeled “enemies of the state” and should be “processed”. Just like now, in the campaign period Prabowo often blamed the press even to curse him and refused to be interviewed.
Krismon aka Monetary Crisis
Initially, the New Order was adored because of many state budgets. However, the budget turned out to be supported by the exploitation of natural resources, government foreign debt, the debt of the private elite (conglomerates), and financial centralization. Economic growth is not accompanied by equal distribution of community wealth. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. The elitist economic structure was the reason why Indonesia was the most devastated country due to the storm of the Asian economic crisis in 1997. Inflation was craze and the value of the rupiah also plummeted so that a monetary crisis ensued.
Corruption
The New Order was a period of massive corruption, but not all cases were known to the public because of the lack of openness of information at that time. Ever heard of Ibnu Sutowo? The former Pertamina Managing Director was corrupt with the $ 1 million collusion project with the Japanese. Ibnu Sutowo in 1970 had a deposit of Rp. 90.48 billion. Imagine what that kind of money can be bought now. That’s just one person. According to the Transparency International NGO, Suharto allegedly embezzled US $ 15-35 billion while serving as president of Indonesia. Throughout history, no leader has ever embezzled that amount of state money.
Petrus (Mysterious Shooter)
Mysterious shooters, or abbreviated as rus petrus ’, are extermination operations (combined wild children) or thugs in the 1980s. Called mysterious because the culprit was not arrested. Petrus targeted the thugs who at that time shot dead and left the bodies until they were found, so as to create a deterrent effect. But not only those who were proven thugs were finished, those who were tattooed were also threatened by their lives. These people live in terror, until they have to flee or hide in the mountains. Some even iron their skin to remove tattoos. Thousands of people died as long as Peter was roaming. Most were found with gunshot wounds in the hands and neck bound or wrapped in sacks. His body was left on the side of the road, in front of the house, thrown into a river, forest, forest, and garden.
There are many more atrocities of the New Order, try asking our father, mother, grandfather, and grandmother how dark the time was, and now trying to repeat it again by Prabowo.
*) Student of UGM