FEEDBACK PRINT THIS PAGE
|
|
|
Timeline
May 1997 – Suharto's Golkar Party takes 74 percent of the vote in tightly-controlled elections.
March 1998 – Suharto is unanimously elected to a seventh five-year presidential term by the 1,000-seat People's Consultative Assembly (MPR—Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat). He names B.J. Habibie as his vice president and appoints several friends and relatives to other high-level positions.
May 1998 – Government troops fire on protesters at Trisakti University in Jakarta, killing six students. Riots break out and last for a week; more than 500 people are killed. Within a week, Suharto's allies in Parliament—including his Golkar Party and many members of his cabinet—call for his resignation. Suharto resigns on May 21 after 32 years in power. Habibie becomes president.
September 1998 – Habibie launches an investigation into how Suharto acquired his wealth. The next month, the investigating commission reports that there isn't enough evidence to warrant any trials. Facing public pressure, Habibie reopens the investigation in November.
November 1998 – The MPR passes several reforms, including a measure to limit the president and vice president to two five-year terms. A proposed independent election commission (KPU—Komisi Pemilihan Umum) becomes operational in March 1999.
December 1998 – Indonesia's attorney general questions former president Suharto concerning allegations of corruption during his administration.
June 1999 – In the first democratic elections since 1955, Megawati Sukarnoputri and the Indonesian Democracy Party of Struggle (PDI—P-Partai Demokrasi Indonesia-Perjuangan) win a plurality of the popular vote and the most seats in Parliament. Their failure to win an outright majority leads to months of haggling and uncertainty.
July 1999 – The Baligate scandal breaks. The insolvent Bank Bali allegedly paid nearly 638 billion rupiah (US$70 million) to a finance company with ties to the Golkar Party to help recover loans it had made to other banks. The money is alleged to have been used in Habibie's presidential campaign.
August 1999 – The former Portuguese colony of East Timor initiates a formal break with Indonesia. Nearly the entire East Timorese electorate votes in a U.N.-backed referendum, with 78.5 percent voting in favor of independence. Anti-independence militias go on the rampage. ___ people are believed to have been killed in the violence. The United Nations. assumes control of East Timor. In September, Indonesian troops begin leaving the country.
September 1999 – The IMF suspends loan disbursements to Indonesia, citing Habibie's failure to adequately investigate the Baligate scandal. Several arrests are made in the case within a month.
October 1999 – Legislators vote to install third-place finisher Abdurrahman Wahid of the National Awakening Party as president. Wahid, also known as Gus Dur, is the leader of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization. Wahid appoints the popular Megawati—the daughter of former president Sukarno—as vice president.
November 1999 – Rudy Ramli, the former president of Bank Bali, along with three former bank directors, goes on trial for concealing a 729 billion rupiah (US$80 million) payment from Indonesia's central bank to the ruling Golkar Party. All charges are dropped within a month.
February 2000 – The U.N. Security Council accepts Indonesia's pledge to conduct a human rights tribunal to investigate allegations of abuse in East Timor.
April 2000 – Wahid reopens the corruption investigation into Suharto's business dealings. Suharto is placed under house arrest.
May 2000 – Scandal erupts around Bulog, a partially privatized government agency that had long enjoyed a monopoly on basic food distribution. The multi-layered scandal, known as Buloggate, includes the embezzlement of 35 billion rupiah (US$3.8 million) from Bulog's employee pension fund. Alip Agung Suwondo, Wahid's former masseur and business partner, allegedly tricked Bulog's deputy chief into transferring the money to him, claiming that he was acting on Wahid's orders to secretly fund relief operations in Indonesia's war-torn Aceh region. An independent audit reveals that Bulog has lost 6.7 trillion rupiah (US$736 million) between April 1993 and March 1998.
August 2000 – Former president Suharto is formally charged with siphoning 5.1 trillion rupiah (US$570 million) from various charities that he and his family operated. That month, Parliament votes to investigate Buloggate and Bruneigate, which involves an 18 billion rupiah (US$2 million) "gift" to Wahid from the Sultan of Brunei. The allegation centers on whether the gift was a personal donation to Wahid or an aid package to Indonesia. Three supreme court justices are accused of accepting roughly 227 million rupiah (US$25,000) in bribes in a 1998 land dispute case.
September 2000 – The South Jakarta District Court dismisses corruption charges against Suharto after he is deemed unfit to stand trial.
September 2000 – Suharto's son, Hutomo Mandala Putra (known as Tommy Suharto), is sentenced to 18 months in prison for real estate fraud. He flees the country.
January 2001 – A special parliamentary commission concludes President Wahid acted improperly in regard to both Buloggate and Bruneigate. Wahid appears on national television and denies any wrongdoing. In February, the Indonesian parliament officially censures Wahid and demands that he reply to their accusations within three months or face another censure. Throughout the spring, both supporters and opponents of Wahid stage massive demonstrations.
April 2001 – Parliament censures Wahid a second time. Meanwhile, the World Bank cancels a US$300 million loan disbursement due to the government's inability to combat loan abuses. Up to 30 percent of past World Bank loans, about 91 trillion rupiah (US$ 10 billion), is estimated to have been lost to corruption during the Suharto regime.
May 2001 – The House of Representatives unanimously agrees to investigate allegations of misappropriation of 144.5 trillion rupiah (US$15 billion) in emergency loans allocated by the Bank Indonesia Bank Liquidity fund (BLBI—Bantuan Likuiditas Bank Indonesia). Bank Indonesia had transferred the money to 48 different commercial banks during the Asian financial crisis between 1997 and 1999, ostensibly to reimburse depositors. An audit finds that 95 percent of the funds had been stolen by bank owners. Several people are investigated, none serve any prison sentences.
May 2001 – Faced with Wahid's threats to dissolve Parliament if they continue their investigation, lawmakers call for a special impeachment session of the MPR.
July 2001 – The Parliament/Wahid showdown reaches a climax. Wahid refuses to appear before Parliament and vainly tries to dissolve Parliament and call new elections. Six cabinet ministers resign. Parliament unanimously votes to impeach and dismiss President Wahid for corruption and incompetence. Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri is sworn in as president, even as Wahid refuses to vacate the presidential palace. After three days, Wahid vacates the palace and leaves the country.
July 2001 – Supreme Court Justice Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who had sentenced Tommy Suharto to prison in September 2000, is assassinated by two motorcycle-riding gunmen. Suharto, who is recaptured in November after hiding out for more than a year, is convicted in July 2002 for his role in the killing and is sentenced to 15 years in prison.
January 2002 – The government launches the new Human Rights Court, designed to hold military officials accountable for abuses committed in East Timor in 1999. Eighteen defendants, including three army generals and a police general, are brought to trial. Only one, however, is found guilty.
March 2002 – Central Bank Governor Sjahril Sabirin is sentenced to three years in prison and fined 15 million rupiah (US$1625) for his involvement in Baligate. Sabirin's conviction is overturned by the Jakarta High Court in August 2002.
March 2002 – Speaker of the House of Representatives and Golkar Party leader Akbar Tandjung is arrested for allegedly misappropriating 40 billion rupiah (US$4.3 million) while he was a state secretary in the Habibie government. In September he is sentenced to three years in prison, but remains free pending appeal and retains his positions in Parliament and the Golkar Party. Two years later, his conviction is overturned.
August 2002 – The constitution is amended to allow direct election of the president and vice president.
October 2002 – Al Qaeda bombs a Bali resort, killing 202 people. The government grants extensive powers to police to track the perpetrators.
December 2002 – The Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN—Komisi Pemeriksaan Kekayaan Penyelenggara Negara) files a police report against Attorney General M.A. Rachman, charging him with making a false declaration about his personal wealth. He failed to report a 2.4 billion rupiah (US$260,021) luxury house bought in 1999 and gifted to his daughter, who sold it to a friend. Megawati announces that she will not take any action against Rachman, who ignores calls to resign. The following month, the person who tipped off the KPKPN about Attorney General Rachman's wealth report is detained on an unrelated fraud charge and is eventually convicted and sentenced to time served.
September 2003 – An Indonesian legal magazine publishes a list detailing the costs of obtaining favorable verdicts in 15 different courts in the country. The costs range from 10 million rupiah to 5.4 billion rupiah (US$1,190 to US$595,000).
March 2004 – Former president Suharto tops Transparency International's list of the most corrupt world leaders. The TI report estimates Suharto embezzled between 137 trillion rupiah and 319 trillion rupiah (US$15 billion and US$35 billion) during his 32-year rule.
April 2004 – The Golkar Party wins the biggest share of the vote in parliamentary and local elections.
September 2004 – Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a former general, wins in the second round of the first-ever direct presidential elections. The inauguration of the newly elected Parliament in October marks the end of the military's formal role in the political system.
December 2004 – The defense ministry launches an investigation into allegations that Suharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hardiyanti ("Tutut") Rukmana, was paid 282 billion rupiah (US$31 million) in bribes by a British weapons manufacturer seeking a contract to sell tanks to Indonesia in the 1990s.
April 2005 – The Governor of Aceh province, Abdullah Puteh, is sentenced to ten years in jail for attempting to embezzle state funds and inflating the price of a helicopter he purchased on behalf of the provincial government.
April 2005 – The military announces it will divest itself of its private business holdings over the next two years.
October 2005 – Former president Suharto's half-brother, Probosutedjo, admits to giving his lawyer 5.5 billion rupiah (US$600,000) to bribe court officials handling his graft conviction appeal. He had been convicted in 2003 of misusing state reforestation funds and sentenced to four years in jail, though his sentence was later reduced to two years.
December 2005 – KPU chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin is sentenced to seven years in jail for receiving kickbacks from an insurance company which had won a contract with the election commission to provide insurance during the 2004 presidential elections. He is the fourth KPU employee recently jailed on corruption charges.
April 2006 – Achmad Djunaidi, the former president director of state social security company PT Jamsostek, is sentenced to eight years in prison for his involvement in a 311 billion rupiah (US$33.7 million) securities scam. Djunaidi bought the securities from four companies without getting consent from a higher institution and without properly vetting the companies' finances, business licenses or bank guarantees.
August 2006 – Indonesian Corruption Watch publishes a report finding irregularities in five projects managed by an agency overseeing reconstruction in the tsunami-devastated Aceh province. Officials at the Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) dispute the report's findings but promise to investigate. There are widespread concerns that a significant amount of the international aid sent to Aceh since the December 2004 earthquake/tsunami has been lost to corruption.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
