In October 1999, Abdurrahman Wahid, almost blind and recovering from a nearfatal stroke, was elected as Indonesia's fourth president. Referred to as 'Indonesia's surprising new president' by the Economist, the man who had commanded the highest respect of his fellow countrymen for his lifetime devotion to public service, liberal democracy and tolerant Islam, was impeached in humiliating and controversial circumstances less than two years later. Wise to some, insolent to others, Abdurrahman's mercurial style of leadership constantly confounded critics and ultimately caused him to be widely misunderstood by both domestic and international observers. For the first time, biographer Greg Barton delves beneath the surface and gives us a unique insight into the man and his world drawn from his long relationship with Gus Dur - including being at his side during the final extraordinary months of the presidency. Those interested in the drama of modern Indonesian politics will find this book provides a fascinating and invaluable account of the enigmatic Gus Dur.

This volume is a collection of chapters on the Indonesian economy under Abdurrahman Wahid (popularly known as Gus Dur). Contributions come from many leading Indonesian commentators and practitioners of the past and present, and there are also chapters from representatives of international assistance agencies. The authors provide a mid-term assessment of the challenges facing Indonesia's economic development and suggestions for future directions. The themes covered are, inter alia, overall political and macroeconomic stability, bank and corporate restructuring, decentralization, corruption, and socio-economic trends. This book will be of interest to those wishing to assess the varying perspectives held by Indonesian officials and commentators, officials from multilateral agencies, and academics, in a single volume.

This book presents the first oral history of Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) (2004-2014). As the first directly elected president, he played a very important role in Indonesia's democratization. Indonesia's economy also got back on the path of growth under his administration.In a series of interviews, SBY tells how he handled military affairs in 1990s, what he did as minister and coordinating minister under President Abdurrahman Wahid and President Megawati Sukarnoputri, challenges he confronted and how he managed those challenges in his administration. Readers will learn his thought about statecraft, his view of the future, his style of leadership, and the critical decisions he made and the thinking that informed his decisions. Interviewed by a team of Indonesia specialists for more than 30 hours, the oral recording helps the reader understand President Yudhoyono's thinking in his own voice, and also, his policies and actions.

An analysis of the 1999 Indonesian general election and subsequent presidential election in the context of Indonesian elections and politics. The book highlights major characteristics of Indonesian society and culture which affect electoral behaviour, namely ethnicity, regionalism and religion.

As a work in comparative theology, this book presents how an Islamic concept of sainthood (walāya) informs Christian theology in answering one question that emerges from today’s multi-faith context: “Is it possible for Christians to recognize non-Christians as saints?”

Indonesia has been an electoral democracy for more than a decade, and yet the political landscape of the world’s third-largest democracy is as complex and enigmatic as ever. The country has achieved a successful transition to democracy and yet Indonesian democracy continues to be flawed, illiberal, and predatory. This book suggests that this and other paradoxes of democracy in Indonesia often assume occult forms in the Indonesian political imagination, and that the spirit-like character of democracy and corruption traverses into the national media and the political elite. Through a series of biographical accounts of political entrepreneurs, all of whom employ spirits in various, but always highly contested, ways, the book seeks to provide a portrait of Indonesia’s contradictory democracy, contending that the contradictions that haunt democracy in Indonesia also infect democracy globally. Exploring the intimate ways in which the world of politics and the world of spirits are entangled, it argues that Indonesia’s seemingly peculiar problems with democracy and spirits in fact reflect a set of contradictions within democracy itself. Engaging with recent attempts to look at contemporary politics through the lens of the occult, Democracy, Corruption and the Politics of Spirits in Contemporary Indonesia will be of interest to academics in the fields of Asian Studies, Anthropology and Political Science and relevant for the study of Indonesian politics and for debates about democracy in Asia and beyond.

This book explores the political and ideological motivations behind the formation of the Nahdlatul Ulama-affiliated political party, and Abdurrahman Wahid's rise to the Presidency of Indonesia after having led NU for 15 years away from formal politics. It sheds light on the complex and historical rivalries within Islam in Indonesia, and how those relationships inform and explain political alliances and manoeuvres in contemporary Indonesia.

The military have had a key role to play in Indonesia's recent history and may well have a decisive role to play in her future. This book looks at the role of the military in the downfall of Suharto and their ongoing influence on the succeeding governments of B.J. Habibie and Abdurrahman Wahid. The author also examines such key features as human rights, reconciliation, civic-military discourse and ongoing security dilemmas. The book is unique in providing the best overview of the role of the military in the world's fourth most populous nation.