1. Indonesia's Achievements are Remarkable but still Lagging behind Korea
Indonesia began to enter the post-independence significant development period when President Suharto came to power and known as the New Order regime. After the bloody tragedy in 1965 in Indonesia, President Sukarno's power began to wane and practically passed into the hands of General Suharto through the President Order in March 1966 which known as Supersemar (Surat Perintah Sebelas Maret). In 1967, Suharto was appointed acting president and confirmed as Indonesia's second president a year later by the People's Consultative Assembly (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat) as a highest institution in Indonesia at the time. The New Order was in power for more than three decades since General Suharto gained power in 1966 until his stepdown from presidency in 1998.
The achievements of the development of the new order are remarkable. Following a period of hyperinflation and economic downturn in the late 1960s under President Sukarno, Indonesia underwent a substantial and continuous economic expansion for 30 years under the leadership of President Suharto. Through the restoration of monetary stability and the rehabilitation of the deteriorated productive apparatus and infrastructure, the Indonesian economy witnessed an unprecedented rapid and sustained growth (Wie, 2007).
As a results, Indonesia since the early 1970s has been achieved rapid progress as shown in the Table 1. GDP national climbed significantly almost 40 folds in 30 years from USD 5.67 billion to USD 217.75 billion as well as GDP per capita increased more than 13 times in 27 years. Meanwhile, inflation rate fell drastically from almost 600% in 1965 to 4.31% in 1985 followed by poverty rate steadily drop from 60% in 1970 to 17.47% in 1997. Furthermore, gross enrolment ratio in secondary education was rose from 18.2% in 1970 to 54.4% in 27 years later.
Table 1. Indonesia's Socio-Economic Achievements during the New Order Regime
Indicator
Year
1965
1970
1985
1997