6. REGIONAL ISSUES Soeharto's Indonesia "Military activities shall not take place in the lands and territories of indigenous peoples, unless otherwise freely agreed upon by the peoples concerned." By 1965, just, before Soeharto seized power in Indonesia, there were 20 million members of leftwing parties. Big demonstrations were held against, corrupt military leaders who headed up state owned companies. There were also calls for land reforms and stricter controls on foreign companies. Some sections of the Armed Forces began to align themselves with the left.
The Armed Forces top Ieaders became increasingly concerned about. Sukarno's left-wing policies.  Rumours spread that these military leaders were planning a military coup. Forces loyal to Sukarno moved to arrest their generals,   but  Major-General Soeharto, in comlmand of an elite force,  quickly  suppressed  the mutiny and blamed it, on the left.In the months that followed, millions of workers, peasants and student. activists from all over Indonesia were detained, and up to a million were executed.
The new Soeharto government quickly  consolidated  itself,-  and .between 1965 an;d 1967 reversed all the social reform policies of the previous government, and established itself as a dictatorship. All left and left-centre organisations, independent trade unions, student representative councils  and  public  gatherings,  were banned, and the media was strictly censored.
Previously nationalised companies were handed back to their owners, and the military extended its control over state owned and private businesses. The World Bank and IMF were invited back into the country and all economic policy was submitted for their vetting.
West Papua experienced Soeharto's tough military controls more intensely than any other part of Indonesia. From 1962, West Papua was effectively under the direct control of the Indonesian military   through   the   Martial   Law Authority. There was no freedom in West Papua to organise, and no freedom of speech. West Papuan figures who have spoken out on this question, such as Thomas Wanggai have ended up in prison or dead.
In 1975, Soeharto invaded East Timer, when the nationalist movement there indicated that it would create a: democratic society allowing massbased politics. The fear of such a society on its borders drove the dictatorship into the invasion. Since the invasion, almost one third of the East Timorese population (about 200,000) have died.
Today the Soeharto regime is one of the world's most brutal and repressive regimes. Peoples' movements have not only been crushed by the military in East Timer and West Papua, but in other Indonesian provinces such as Aceh and Kalimantan as well as in Jakarta.
In Aceh (northern Sumatra) an increasing rich/poor gap and a strong separate Islamic: identity have fuelled an armed campaign for a separate state. In Kalimantan the indigenous Dayak people continue to resist being swamped by transmigrants from Madura and Java, and having their forests and lifestyles devastated by logging companies. Dayak land claims have been i~ored in favour of Jakartabased business interests anti government development imperatives.