A lecture and photograph presentation by John H. McGlynn

The Center for Southeast Asian Studies Presents Indonesia in the Soeharto Years: Issues, Incidents and Images, A lecture and photograph presentation by John H. McGlynn, Lontar Foundation Jakarta, Indonesia. Tuesday, March 20. 12:00-2:00 p.m. Center for Korean Studies Auditorium University of Hawai`i-Ma¯noa.

The Center for Southeast Asian Studies Presents Indonesia in the Soeharto Years: Issues, Incidents and Images, A lecture and photograph presentation by John H. McGlynn, Lontar Foundation Jakarta, Indonesia. Tuesday, March 20. 12:00-2:00 p.m. Center for Korean Studies Auditorium University of Hawai`i-Ma¯noa

From 1968 until 1998, throughout his tenure as leader of Indonesia,President Soeharto foisted a myth of culture-bound identity uponthe Indonesian people. According to this myth Indonesians would inherently avoid conflict and seek consensus. Over 32 years Soeharto built a state that seemingly mirrored this myth. National elections consistently granted him a popular public mandate. Individuals and media were kept in line through co-option,coercion, and the threat of violence. In the calm of this repression and enforced consensus, Soeharto became a statesman and international leader, his nation's "Father of Development."

In May 1998 Jakarta burned, students occupied the parliament, and in the face of overwhelming pressure Soeharto resigned. International observers, accustomed to regarding Soeharto as a Javanese king, did not predict his sudden and artless fall from power. The student demonstrators too, brought up in Soeharto's own propaganda-driven educational system, voiced their outrage in terms of the gross "corruption, collusion, and nepotism" that characterized the final years of the regime. In the aftermath of the demonstrations and Soeharto's resignation the myth of Indonesians as conformists and
consensus-seekers was forever shattered. Using a wide array of iconic and historic photographs, John H. McGlynn will relate the story of Indonesia in the Soeharto years.

John H. McGlynn, the world's leading English-language translator of Indonesian literature, is co-founder and Director of Publications of the Lontar Foundation, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1987 for the purpose of fostering appreciation of Indonesian literature and culture. He is currently teaching a course on translation for
subtitling purposes at University of Hawai`i-Ma¯noa.

This lecture is presented by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hawai`i-Manoa. For more information, including building access for the handicapped, please call 956-2688.