Something very important is happening in Southeast Asia, but its
significance has yet to register fully in America. Indonesia, the
Brazil of Southeast Asia, is in very deep trouble. It has often been
said that, as the world's fourth-largest country, Indonesia is the
important country America least understands. The last time the United
States paid serious attention to it was in the mid-1960s when, as the
Cold War gripped Southeast Asia, Indonesia came very close to
imploding. For roughly a quarter century after that, the country was
a low profile economic success story, and the anchor of regional
stability in Southeast Asia.
This year Indonesia has been thrown into a very deep crisis. Having
made truly extraordinary economic progress and become a model of
developmental rectitude for the World Bank, it is now experiencing
economic devastation. Indonesia's economy has yet to bottom out, and
the task of rehabilitation will be very difficult. To compound its
problems, Indonesia is now also having to grapple with the task of
constructing a new political system following the collapse of the
deeply entrenched authoritarian regime of the long-serving strongman,
Suharto. The country's political life is today changing rapidly, with
the rise of a politicized Islam and other groupings in preparation
for the expected reworking of the country's political framework.
