OP-ED: Indonesian Youth in the Post-1998 Era of Democratization
May 1998 was a terrible and magical moment in the history of Indonesia’s youth movement. It was a time of deep social trauma and the start of the transformation of young Indonesians into agents of democratic change after more than three decades of living under repressive authoritarian rule. The political moment began on 12 May when Indonesian security forces opened fire on unarmed student protesters from Trisakti University in Jakarta who demanded the resignation of President Suharto. The ‘Trisakti tragedy,’ as it was commonly called, left four students dead (Elang Mulia Lesmana, Heri Hertanto, Hafidin Royan and Hendriawan Sie) and dozens more injured, giving birth to the first of a long line of ‘reformation heroes.’ Set against the backdrop of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which hit Indonesia the hardest out of the affected countries, the Trisakti riots quickly spread to socioeconomically distressed cities throughout the country and forced the collapse of Suharto’s New Order regime on 21 May 1998...