Paper Topic:

Indonesia

Introduction

A brief history

Prior to 1949 , Indonesia was under the Netherlands . Following a bitter war for independence , Indonesia became independent on December 27 , 1949 and , acquired other territories formerly under the Dutch government such as New Guinea which was renamed West Irian , then , later became Irian Jaya and West Papua in 2000 . When President Suharto took over the presidency from Sukarno , Indonesia 's co-father of independence in 1965 relations with the West were enhanced and Indonesia 's economy improved dramatically . Economic progress was rapid through the thirty year up to

br 1997 . It was the years that most analysts recognized Indonesia as a newly industrializing economy , and emerging major market '1

Indonesia 's GDP growth rate was averaged nearly 7 and during this period , living standard improved significantly and poverty steadily declined , and per capita income rose '2

But when the economic crisis broke out in 1997 sweeping East Asia Indonesia was particularly hardly hit . The problems that were brought upon by these economic crises on the Indonesian economy were the collapsed of the banking sector and the dramatic exodus of external capital estimated by the World Bank at around 9 billion in 2000 alone '3 Sixteen banks were closed upon instruction of IMF mission which precipitated a run on all Indonesia 's banks , and the Bank of Indonesia was forced to bail out the entire system '4 As a consequence a government debt of 60 bn was implemented . Public debt , which was at sustainable level prior to the upsurge of the economic crises , has more than doubled since the crises to reach 130 bn , or roughly 90 of GDP , and an equally sharp increase in private , debt has left the country 's The Political Aspect

Indonesia 's political arena since its independence seems to depend on who is on the throne . During Sukarno 's reign , the dominant influence on the political atmosphere is his own Indonesian Communist Party (PKI But when President Suharto rose to power in 1967 , he ruled the country for the next thirty-two years with an authoritarian regime under which hundreds of thousands of suspected communist were killed by Suharto 's force and , 200 ,000 more death as either victims of human rights abuses malnutrition or disease

The political climate now in Indonesia is still quite unstable and terrorist activities and political violence are still surging . The Bali bombing in 2002 left hundreds dead , and upsurge of fighting in the province of Aceh , Ambon , East Timor , Borneo and Irian Jaya are indicative of the separatist tension that continue to plague this desperate nation '6

Should the debts of developing countries and that of Indonesia be cancelled

Indonesia 's former dictator General Suharto borrowed heavily from the time he seized power in 1967 until his fall in 1998 . Rich country creditors were keen to fund Suharto , an avowed 'anti-communist , even though his extensive corruption and brutal oppression were well-documented . The World Bank lent the Suharto regime approximately 30 billion during this time . Suharto is estimated to have...

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