Tired of the economic woes that caused the prices of basic goods to rise beyond affordability, coupled with increasingly tyrannical edicts restricting freedoms of speech, assembly, and protest, a widespread student movement stormed the legislative building, demanding Suharto's resignation. To the world's surprise, he granted their wish.
The new President is Bucharuddin Jusuf Habibie, who served as Suharto's Minister of Research and Technology (the link is to his personal homepage, mostly in Bahasa Indonesian). Habibie's distinguishing feature is his unpopularity. The students dislike him for his close ties to his patron. The military dislikes him for his lack of military service, and indeed, Habibie has never been on good terms with the military. Some of Habibie's ambitious projects, including a national car company, a national airline, and nuclear power plants, have failed largely and miserably.
By all accounts, Habibie is not likely to last six months. But while analysts announce that prediction with ease and grace, few can imagine what will happen next. Is there anybody who can do a better job than Habibie?
There are a few candidates to become a more permanent leader. Harmoko is the Speaker of the House, and one of the more popular politicians in Indonesia. Wiranto, the head of the military, controls the most powerful force in Indonesia, and no president is likely to last long without his approval -- making him an obvious candidate to be president. The leader of the student movement, Amien Rais, also heads the nation's most powerful Islamic movement. His preachings for an Islamic democracy (or, alternately, a democratic Islam, depending on his mood) are popular with students, and Indonesia's vast underclass. However, his power base ends there, certainly before he taps into any source of campaign funds.
Two former leading figures have suffered a rather startling (and welcome) fall from grace lately. Suharto's daughter, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana (nicknamed "Tutut") was positioning herself to be in line for the throne, but before his resignation, Suharto himself demoted her out of his Cabinet. Tutut, made rich thanks to her father's business connections, was (like Habibie) deeply unpopular, and (unlike Habibie) absolutely incompetent.
The other person demoted recently was another Suharto family member, his son-in-law Prabowo Subianto. Prabowo was a leader of Indonesia's armed forces, second in command only to Wiranto, and almost as powerful, thanks to his family connections. Prabowo's danger was his ambition. He clearly and explicitly lusted after the top spot, and seemed willing to use force to get it. Wiranto, apparently recognizing this danger, demoted Prabowo several ranks with Suharto's blessing, seriously denting his military career. Prabowo, who may have responded negatively and violently to his demotion, instead accepted it quietly, to the relief of the nation.
