Indonesia: Recent events and future challenges

The Asian financial crisis of 1997 and ensuing collapse of the 32-year dictatorship of Soeharto led Indonesia into chaos. Professor Takashi Shiraishi of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, outlines the events within Indonesia since the October 1999 presidential elections and examines some of the major issues that confront the government under President Abdurrahman Wahid. Given the enormity of political challenges, economic crisis, ethnic and religious conflicts and separatist movements, Professor Shiraishi argues that the prospects for recovery and development in Indonesia in the near future are not good.