Fall of Suharto in Indonesia

On May 21, 1998, President Suharto of Indonesia announced his resignation after 31 years in power, and Vice President B. J. Habibie was sworn in at once. Only two months earlier an assembly of loyalists had given Suharto a seventh term. The sudden end came after months of economic collapse, student demonstrations and rioting, and it opened the way for the democratization known as Reformasi.¹²

Suharto had taken power after the 1965 coup attempt and the mass killings that followed, and ruled as the "New Order" president for three decades, backed by the army and a growing economy. When the Asian financial crisis struck in July 1997, Indonesia's currency, the rupiah, lost most of its value. Companies that had borrowed in dollars went bankrupt, millions lost jobs, and prices of food and fuel soared. An IMF rescue package from October 1997 required spending cuts, and fuel price rises in May 1998 triggered new anger. Many Indonesians also resented the wealth of Suharto's family and friends.³²

On May 12, 1998, soldiers shot four students at Trisakti University in Jakarta. The next days brought riots in Jakarta and other cities that killed over a thousand people and targeted ethnic Chinese Indonesians in particular. Students occupied the parliament building, and key allies, including ministers and the speaker of parliament, urged Suharto to step down. He resigned and lived under informal protection until his death in 2008 without a completed trial. Habibie freed political prisoners, lifted press controls, and allowed free elections in 1999, and East Timor voted for independence the same year.¹³