Elections such as Indonesia's once had a particular significance. During the Cold War decades, they were a kind of admission ticket. Soeharto's was prominent among them. These ideals are to be remade and understood anew. In the age of globalism, Indonesians are turning inward.
Autonomy is a vital issue in Indonesia today.
These diverse people will stay together only if they agree to come apart. To modernize, then, meant to Westernize. It was not a new idea. But during the Cold War years it assumed a new utility. The Central Intelligence Agency, with a detachment that belied U.S. involvement, ranked this rampage among the century's worst atrocities.