“The End of Personal Rule in Indonesia: Golkar and the Transformation of the Suharto Regime” (Tokyo University Press. 2010)

Ayako Masuhara (Assistant Professor, Asia University, Faculty of International Relations)

I consider it a great honor to have been granted this Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize. I would like to express my gratitude to all members of the board of directors and the judging committee. Since the beginning of this year, peaceful demonstrations have shaken the authoritarian regimes in Middle Eastern and North African countries. In a few countries, the dictatorships have been overthrown by these civil anti-governmental movements. My book explained the collapse of the Suharto regime thirteen years ago, in 1998. Like the recent political changes in Middle Eastern and North African countries, Suharto’s fierce rule ended after peaceful demonstrations by the Indonesian people. However, we cannot conclude that “the people beat the government”, because the demonstrations were not so large-scale as to overthrow a regime supported by the military. Why did the fierce Suharto government collapse? I concluded that a group against President Suharto appeared within the government party and cooperated with opposition groups in society. The pressure from both inside and outside government prompted the withdrawal of the president. Why did an anti-Suharto group appear from inside the government party? Why could they cooperate with opposition groups in society? To answer these questions, I collected and analyzed data concerning the political elite, especially the MPs of the government party during the thirty years of the Suharto regime. According to my analysis, the elite who had democratic ideas had been co-opted in the government party. They had transformed the characteristics of the party and changed both relations between the party and the military, and relations between the party and the president. Those who sympathized with democratic movements and cooperated with opposition groups contributed to the collapse of the Suharto government in May 1998. I have spent much time on this analysis, because I think it is very important to characterize the political change in Indonesia, as reflected in today’s honor. Needless to say, I have been the recipient of much advice and numerous types of support from various people over the years it has taken to write this book. I express my sincere gratitude to all of them.

Profile
B. A., University of Tokyo (International Relations, College of Arts and Sciences) March 1994 M. A., Graduate school of Arts and Sciences (International Relations, Advanced Social and International Studies), University of Tokyo March 1996 Visiting Researcher, Japanese Study Center, University of Indonesia June 2000 – October 2002 Ph. D., Graduate school of Arts and Sciences (International Relations, Advanced Social and International Studies), University of Tokyo October 2007 Asia University, Faculty of International Relations, Assistant Professor April 2009