Harmoko dan suharto biography

1In the middle of the 1990s, Indonesia, hitherto presented as a model of inter-religious cohabitation, seemed to plummet into inter-faith and inter-ethnic violence. The anti-Chinese riots that broke out in Medan in 1994 were reproduced in many places in Java in the following year.1 In 1996, incidents took on a distinctively anti-Christian turn with the torching of 24 churches and Christian schools in a single day (10 October) in Situbundo. In December, riots broke out in Tasikmalaya where churches and Buddhist temples were vandalised. In the course of just one year, 1996, 71 churches were destroyed, burnt or damaged.2 Incidents multiplied in the following years: 92 in 1997 and 134 in 1998, the year of the fall of Soeharto.3 The crisis seemed to culminate in the Moluccas, where con-frontations between Christians and Muslims spread as of January 1999. Henceforth, mosques were also attacked.4 The Moluccas ‘cause’ soon ignited part of the Muslim community in Indonesia. On 7 January 2000, several hundred thousands of demonstrators gathered around the National Monument in Jakarta in a show of solidarity for the Moluccan Muslims. This demonstration, named “action of a million Muslims” (aksi sejuta ummat), during which calls for jihad were launched, quickly became the symbol for some of the umma’s noble mobilisation for its martyred brothers, and for others, of a worrying convergence of radical Islam militias and organisations hitherto considered moderate. In the same year, 2000, in the big cities of Java, Islamic militias such as Front of the Defenders of Islam (Front Pembela Islam, FPI) became increasingly visible and started to control entire urban districts.

2Indonesian public opinion treated this explosion of violence with a mixture of worry that it would stir up other parts of the Archipelago and indecisiveness as to whom to blame. An instinct for communitarian solidarity cau

Indonesian politician and journalist (1939–2021)

Harmoko (7 February 1939 – 4 July 2021), colloquially referred to as Bung Harmoko, was an Indonesianpolitician and journalist who was active during the New Order era. He served as the Speaker of the People's Representative Council from 1997 until 1999, and was a factor in president Suharto's resignation during the widespread student demonstrations which occurred at the end of the New Order.

Born from humble origins in East Java, on 7 February 1939, Harmoko graduated from journalistic school, and became a journalist. He was active during the Guided Democracy and New Order regimes, working in a number of different newspapers, including Merdeka, Merdiko, and Harian Mimbar Kita. In 1970, he founded his own newspaper, the Pos Kota in Jakarta. In 1970, he was elected as the General Chairperson of the Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI) branch in Jakarta, and two years later, he was elected as the General Chairperson of the entire PWI.

In 1977, Harmoko was

President of Indonesia from 1967 to 1998

In this Indonesian name, there is no family name nor a patronymic.

Suharto (8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian military officer and politician, who served as the second and longest serving president of Indonesia.

Suharto's presidency and legacy are highly divisive. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto led Indonesia as an authoritarian regime from 1967 until his resignation in 1998 following nationwide unrest. His 31-year rule over Indonesia is considered one of the most controversial in the 20th century due to allegations of corruption and his government's central role to the perpetration of mass killings against communists early in his rule and subsequent discrimination of ethnic Chinese Indonesians, irreligious people, and trade unionists. However, he has been praised for making Indonesia into an economic success story, bringing stability to the region particularly during the Cold War period, and led Indonesia when it played a significant role in international affairs.

Suharto was born in Kemusuk, near the city of Yogyakarta, during the Dutch colonial era. He grew up in humble circumstances. His Javanese Muslim parents divorced not long after his birth, and he lived with foster parents for much of his childhood. During the Japanese occupation, Suharto served in the Japanese-organized Indonesian security forces. During Indonesia's independence struggle, he joined the newly formed Indonesian Army and rose to the rank of major general some time after full Indonesian independence was achieved. An attempted coup on 30 September and 1 October 1965 was countered by Suharto-led troops. The army subsequently led a nationwide violent anti-communist purge and Suharto wrested power from Indonesia's founding president, Suk