Indonesia; key historical events
Page last modified 13/1/2021
For events of World War Two in Pacific,
S E Asia, see China-Japan-Korea
See also South-East Asia
2006, Timor L’Este reached an agreement with Australia over explpoitation of oil
and gas reserves in the Timor Sea.
2005, A peace
agreement was made between the Indonesian government and the Aceh
secessionists (GAM).
GAM
disarmed and the Indoensian Army withdrew from Aceh.
1/10/2005, The resort of Bali
was bombed by terrorists. 26 were killed
and 100 injured.
2004, Former
General, Susilo
Bambang, won the first ever Indonesian elections to choose a
president directly.
26/12/2004, A very large earthquake struck the
floor of the Indian Ocean just off Aceh Province, Indonesia. It was estimated
as magnitude 9.3 on the Richter Scale, and shifted parts of the sea bed
vertically by ten metres. It caused a very large tsunami to sweep across
the Indian Ocean, causing at least 165,000 casualties. In January 2005 the
Indonesian government raised its death toll to 166,320, bringing the total
estimated number of casualties to 232,010. The confirmed death toll on 18/1/05
stood at 162,705, including 115,229 from Indonesia, 30,920 from Sri Lanka,
10,714 from India, 5,291 from Thailand, 298 from Somalia, 82 from the Maldives,
68 from Malaysia, 10 from Tanzania, 2 from Bangladesh, and 1 from Kenya. The
secretive military regime in Burma reported just 90 deaths, a suspiciously low
figure. Many tourists from Europe, who had been on winter holidays, died,
including at least 400 Britons (possibly 2,000 Britons).
2003, Peace
talks between Indonesia and the Aceh secessionists broke down, and the
Indonesian army began an offensive.
12/10/2002. A large bomb hit the Sari
nightclub in Bali, a popular holiday destination for Australians and other
Westerners, and the only Hindu island in the otherwise Muslim republic of Indonesia. 202 died
and over 300 were injured, mostly Australian tourists. Al Qaeda, the organisation
which hit the USA
on '9-11', 2002, was blamed. Australia had been instrumental in helping East Timor to achieve independence from Indonesia, and the
decadence of Bali did not fit with Islamic ideals.
20/5/2002, East
Timor became independent from Indonesia, under President Gusmao. It had been a Portuguese colony, whereas the west of Timor,
along with the rest of Indonesia, had been a Dutch colony until gaining
independence in 1949. The Portuguese retained East Timor until 1975, when, with
majority support, the Frente Revolucionaria de Timor Leste Independente, or Fretelin, a Leftist organisation, took
control. Indonesia then invaded the former colony, and east Timor was declared
the 27th province of Indonesia in July 1976. However the UN refused to recognise
Indonesian sovereignty over East Timor, instead continuing to regard it as a
Portuguese colony. In 1991 pro-independence demonstrators were massacred by the
Indonesian Army in Dili, attracting international condemnation. Guerrilla warfare
between Indonesia and Timor independence fighters continued until 1999, when
Indonesia agreed to a plebiscite offering East Timor a choice between a special
autonomous regime within Indonesia or independence. There was a large majority
for independence, and President Xanana Gusmao, leader of Fretilin, became President of the newly independent state.
23/7/2001, President Wahid was removed, amidst
allegations of corruption and incompetence; Megawati Sukarnoputri became the 5th
President of Indonesia.
1999, Free
elections in Indonesia were won by the opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri. Adburrahman
Wahid elected President, and Megawati became Vice-President. Wahid
offered Aceh
greater autonomy.
20/9/1999, Timor L’Este appealed
for help from the international community.
Suharto era, 1967 - 1999
21/5/1998, President Suharto of Indonesia resigned as the country’s economy worsened and civil unrest grew. He
was replaced by BJ Habibie.
1997, Economic recession hit Indonesia, and the Rupiah plummeted. Indonesia
was also hit by smog from large forest fires.
1996, Timor’s exiled resistance
leader, Jose Ramos Horta, and the Bishop of Dili, Carlos
Belo,
were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, thereby raising global awareness of
the Timor secessionist movement.
1993, Timor
secessionist leader Gusmao was imprisoned for life by an
Indonesian Court. In 1994 the Indonesian military held talks with him in prison
on the possibility of a Unuted Nations referendum on independence.
1992, Fretilin
independence leader Jose Xanana Gusmao was captured near Dili.
1991, Indonesian troops
opened fire on a crowd of funeral mourners in Dili, killing at least 50.
1991, Indonesia agreed
to allow a delegation from Portugal to visit East Timor, however the vist was
cancelled at the last minute when Indonesia objected to a member of the
delegation.
1989, Indonesian Foreign Debt reached US$ 50 billion. Western credit was
offered on conditions of domestic austerity measures and coincessions to
Western companies.
1988, Suharto re-elected for a 5th term.
1986, Fretilin and UDT
agreed to co-ordinate their resistance efforts against Indonesia.
1984, Muslim
protests in Jakarta.
1979, Indonesia began implementing the Transmigrasi
(Transmigration) Project. Over 2 million people were moved from overcrowded
Java to less densely populated islands.
7/12/1975, Indonesia invaded East Timor. See 28/11/1975. The United
Nations Security Council called on Indonesia to withdraw from East Timor. On
17/7/1976 East Timor was declared the 27th
province of Indonesia. Portugal broke off diplomatic relations with Indonesia.
28/11/1975, Portuguese Timor declared independence from Portugal, as East Timor.
See 7/12/1975.
16/10/1975,
Indonesian forces on a raid into Portuguese Timor killed 5 Australian-based
journalists.
11/8/1975, Mario Lemos
Pires, Governor of Portuguese
Timor, was forced to abandon the capital, Dili, due to civil war between UDT and Fretilin.
15/1/1974, Riots in Jakarta, Indonesia, in protest at
a visit by the Japanese Prime Minister.
1971, Student protests against government corruption.
3/7/1971, The first
elections in Indonesia for 16 years. The incumbent government won a clear
victory.
21/6/1970, Achmed Sukarno,
President of Indonesia, died aged 69.
18/9/1968, Indonesia claimed sovereignty over most of Sabah. On
19/9/1968 Malaysia withdrew its diplomats from Manila.
1967, Indonesia played a leading role in the formation of
Asean, the Association of South East Asian Nations.
22/2/1967, Suharto
replaced Sukarno
as President of Indonesia. Indonesia rejoined the United Nations.
25/10/1966, A
military court in Jakarta sentenced Indonesia's ex-foreign minister Subandrio to death, on charges of being involved in the 30 September Movement.
The sentence was reduced to life imprisonment on the intervention of the
British government.
11/8/1966. Malaysia
and Indonesia ended a 3 year war.
16/3/1966, Anti-communist demonstrations in Indonesia.
12/3/1966, General Suharto
assumed power in an army coup in Indonesia. He forced Sukarno,
held under armed guard in the Presidential Palace, to sign an order giving him
executive authority Suharto swiftly moved to annihilate the Communist Party,
resulting in a massacre of between 250,000 and 500,000 people.
1/10/1965, General Suharto
quickly took control of the insurrection and now proclaimed the Communist Party
(which Sukarno
had relied on as a counterweight to the Army) as guilty for the rebellion.
Within a few weeks the extermination of the PKI (Communists) had begun. The PKI
had been the largest Communist Party in the world outside Russia
and China, with 3 million members.
30/9/1965, A group
of middle-ranking Army officers in Indonesia seized power, led by Lieutenant-Colonel
Untung of Sukarno’s Presidential Guard. They killed several top
Generals and took President Sukarno to an airbase near Jakarta
where they proclaimed a Revolutionary Council.
1963, President Sukarno made himself ‘President for
life’.
7/1/1965. Indonesia
left the United Nations, under President
Sukarno.
1965, The alliance between the PKI (Communist Party of Indonesia)
and the military ended.
1963, Indonesia took control of Irian Jaya, and announced a policy of ‘konfrontasi’ with
Malaysia.
31/10/1963, Britain
suspended aid to Indonesia.
1962, The Netherlands agreed to hand over Irian Jaya (West Papua) to Indonesia
after a transition period asministered by the United Nations.
1960, Indonesia’s Land
Reform Bill limited land holdings to a maximum of 7.5 hectares, breaking up
the old large estates. Tenant farmers bought the smallholdings they had
previously rented.
1960, President Sukarno suspended parliament, making
himself dictator.
9/2/1959. The UK
supplied arms to Indonesia. There were fears of Communist takeover, from
Vietnam.
31/12/1958, President
Sukharno proclaimed a state of Emergency in Sumatra. Western Sumatra had attempted to secede
5/12/1957. All Dutch nationals were expelled from
Indonesia.
3/12/1958. Indonesia
nationalised Dutch businesses.
4/8/1956, Indonesia
repudiated its debts to The Netherlands.
3/3/1956, Harahap
took control of the Indonesian government.
11/8/1955. Muslim right wing government took over
in Indonesia.
1950, Chancellor
Suomokil declared the Moluccas Islands independent. The Indonesian
Army quickly suppressed the secessionist movement.
Indonesian struggle for
independence
28/12/1949, Ahmed Sukarno,
aged 48, leader of the Indonesian
Nationalist Party, arrived in Batavia (Djakarta) to take up residence on the
former Dutch Governor’s Palace. Since the end of the Japanese occupation of
Indonesia in 1945, Sukarno had fought hard for independence from the
Netherlands.
27/12/1949. The
Netherlands recognised the independence of Indonesia.
15/12/1948. In Indonesia, Dutch troops seized Jakarta.
10/1948, The Madiun
Rebellion in the Philippines was fiercely suppressed by Dutch forces. The
rebellion was started by the PKI (Partai Komunis Indonesia), the Communist Party
of Indonesia. The PKI disagreed with other Indonesian forces as to the
final path towards independence. The defeat of the PKI paved the way for
greater US support
for independence, which persuaded the Dutch to withdraw in 1949.
1/8/1947. The UN
Security Council asked for a ceasefire in Indonesia.
20/7/1947. Dutch
troops attacked Indonesian forces in Java.
8/11/1945, British
commander E.C. Mansergh ordered all Indonesians to surrender their arms by 6
a.m. Saturday or face ‘all the naval, army and air forces under my command’. That
night President
Sukarno of the unrecognized Indonesian Republic appealed to President
Truman and Prime Minister Attlee to intervene in the conflict
to prevent bloodshed.
17/8/1945, Indonesia was proclaimed an
independent republic, under Dr Sukarno,
after its liberation from Japanese forces. The PNI (Indonesian Nationalist Party)
proclaimed a Republic in the city they called Jakarta, and the Dutch called
Batavia. The Dutch and the PNI began
fighting.
1942, Japanese forces occupied Indonesia, until 1945. For more events
of World War Two in the Pacific see Japan.
Dutch government colonisation
4/6/1927. In
Indonesia, Ahmed
Sukarno founded the Indonesian Nationalist Party.
3/12/1918, Abdul Haris
Nasution, Indonesian general, was born (died 2000).
1910, Dutch colonial control now extended fully to the
more remote islands of the Indonesian archipelago.
6/6/1901, Sukarno,
President of Indonesia, was born.
1882, The Dutch occupied northern Bali, overthrowing the
Madjapahit rulers.
1830, Dutch colonisers implemented the ‘Culture System’,
forcing the cultivation of commercial crops for export in Indonesia.
28/3/1830, A
rebellion in Indonesia against Dutch rule ended with victory to the Dutch. This
day the Indonesian rebel leader, Diponegoro ceremonially surrendered his kris
(dagger) to the Dutch Governor, Hendrik Merkus de Kock.
1825, The Java Wars
began; an unsuccessful indigenous attempt to end Dutch colonial rule. Conflict
was over by 1830.
Dutch VOC colonialisation
1799, The VOC
Charter expired; the Dutch Government took control of the colony of
Indonesia.
1660, Celebes became a Dutch colony.
1646, Death of Sultan Agung, ruler of the Mataram Kingdom from 1613. The Mataram
Kingdom became priominent in the early 17th C as it waged military
camapaigns to expand its territory. However it then came up against the Dutch
colonisers. Under Agung’s incompetent son, Amangkurat I, Mataram came close
to toal collapse as internal rivalries tore its government apart. Finally,
Mataram was divided under the Giyanti
Settlement of 1755.
1609, The VOC (Dutch East India Company) founded
Batavia (now Jakarta).
1602, The VOC established a monopoly over the
regional spice trade.
1520, Dutch colonisers established a post
on Timor.
1502, Dutch colonisers arrived at
Ternate, and gained control of the clove trade.
1300s, Islamic principalities began to emerge
along the sea lanes and coastal areas of Indonesia.
1293, The Sri-Vijaya Empire Empire was replaced by the Hindu-Buddhist Java-based
Majapahit Empire.
1100s, Islam began penetrating the Indonesian Archipelago.
700, The Buddhist Sumatra-based Sri Vijaya Empire was becoming
prominent; the earliest-known Indonesia kingdom.
100, Earliest known contacts between
India and the peoples of Indonesia.