It is frequently employed to describe figures who were either tied to the Suharto period, or who upheld the practises of his authoritarian administration, such as corruption, collusion, and nepotism (widely known by the acronym KKN: korupsi, kolusi, nepotisme).

The cash-strapped government had to scrap public sector subsidies, annual inflation rose to as high as 1,000%, export revenues were shrinking, infrastructure crumbling, and factories were operating at minimal capacity with negligible investment.

[7][8] Public opinion shifted against Sukarno in part due to his apparent knowledge of, and sympathy for, the events of 30 September, and for his tolerance of leftist and communist elements whom the army blamed for the coup attempt.

[14] Pancasila, a rather vague and generalist set of principles originally formulated by Sukarno in 1945, was vigorously promoted as a sacrosanct national ideology which represented the ancient wisdom of the Indonesian people even before the entry of foreign-based religions such as Hinduism or Islam.

In a July 1982 speech that reflected his deep infatuation with Javanese beliefs, Suharto glorified Pancasila as a key to reaching the perfect life (ilmu kasampurnaning hurip) of harmony with God and fellow mankind.

In 1967, generals HR Dharsono, Kemal Idris, and Sarwo Edhie Wibowo (dubbed "New Order Radicals") opposed Suharto's decision to allow the participation of existing political parties in elections in favour of a non-ideological two-party system somewhat similar to those found in many Western countries.

Suharto then proceeded to send Dharsono overseas as ambassador, while Kemal Idris and Sarwo Edhie Wibowo were sent to distant North Sumatra and South Sulawesi as regional commanders.

100 of the 460 members of DPR were soldiers of the Republic of Indonesia Armed Forces (ABRI)—mostly Indonesian Army soldiers—directly appointed by the government as part of Dwifungsi, while the remaining seats were allocated to political parties based on results of a general election.

After initially considering alignment with Sukarno's old party, the PNI, in 1969 Suharto took control of an obscure military-run federation of NGOs called Golkar ("Functional Group") and transform it into his electoral vehicle under the co-ordination of his right-hand man Ali Murtopo.

[21] Suharto proceeded with social engineering projects designed to transform Indonesian society into a de-politicized "floating mass" supportive of the national mission of "development", a concept similar to corporatism.

][citation needed]; a "Family Welfare Training" programme (Indonesian: Pembinaan Kesejahteraan Keluarga, PKK), which was rooted on a 1957 conference on home economics in Bogor, was made compulsory in 1972, especially on rural regions.

Suharto authorised Operasi Trisula which destroyed PKI remnants trying to organise a guerrilla base in the Blitar area in 1968 and ordered several military operations which ended the communist PGRS-Paraku insurgency in West Kalimantan (1967–1972).

[24] Notably, in March 1981, Suharto authorised a successful special forces mission to end hijacking of a Garuda Indonesia flight by Islamic extremists at Don Muang Airport in Bangkok.

[25] To comply with the New York Agreement of 1962 which required a plebiscite on integration of West Irian into Indonesia before end of 1969, the Suharto government began organising for a so-called "Act of Free Choice" (PEPERA) scheduled on July–August 1969.

The government sent RPKAD special forces under Sarwo Edhie Wibowo which secured the surrender of several bands of the former Dutch-organized militia (Papoea Vrijwilligers Korps/ PVK) at large in the jungles since the Indonesian takeover in 1963, while sending Catholic volunteers under Jusuf Wanandi to distribute consumer goods to promote pro-Indonesian sentiments.

[39] Flush with IGGI foreign aid and later the jump in oil exports during the 1973 oil crisis, the government began a series of large-scale intensive investment in infrastructure under a series of five-year plans (Rencana Pembangunan Lima Tahun / REPELITA): While establishing a formal economy based on rational and sound macroeconomic policies, Suharto continued his past modus operandi of creating a vast network of charitable organisations ("yayasan") run by the military and his family members, which extracted "donations" from domestic and foreign enterprises in exchange for necessary government support and permits.

While some proceeds of these organisations were used for genuinely charitable purposes (such as building a heart-disease hospital by Yayasan Harapan Kita run by the first lady), most of the money was recycled as slush funds to reward political allies to maintain support for Suharto's presidency.

The company's director, General Ibnu Sutowo (a close ally of Suharto), invested the windfall income from rising oil prices into a myriad of other business activities such as shipping, steel, construction, real estate, and hospitals.

[43] Upon assuming power, Suharto government adopted a policy of neutrality in the Cold War with quiet alignment with the Western bloc (including Japan and South Korea) with the objective of securing support for Indonesia's economic recovery.

However, from 1967 to 1970 foreign minister Adam Malik managed to secure several agreements to restructure massive debts incurred by Sukarno from the Soviet Union and other Eastern European communist states.

After persuasion from Western countries (including from US president Gerald R. Ford and Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam during their visits to Indonesia), Suharto decided to intervene to prevent establishment of a communist state.

After an unsuccessful attempt of covert support to Timorese anti-communist groups UDT and APODETI, Suharto authorised a full-scale invasion of the colony on 7 December 1975 followed with its official annexation as Indonesia's 27th province of East Timor in July 1976.

The "encirclement and annihilation" campaigns of 1977–1979 broke the back of Fretilin control over the hinterlands, although continuing guerilla resistance forced the government to maintain strong military presence in the half-island until 1999.

[citation needed] The government's Bantuan Pembangunan Sekolah Dasar program, better known as SD Inpres and launched in 1973, resulted in the primary-school enrollment ratio reaching 90% by 1983 while almost eliminating the education gap between boys and girls.

[citation needed] The sudden availability of credit fuelled strong economic growth in the early 1990s, but weak regulation of the financial sector sowed the seeds of the catastrophic crisis in 1997 which eventually lead to Suharto's resignation.

By the 1990s, elements of the growing Indonesian middle class, created by Suharto's economic development, were becoming restless with his autocracy and his family's brazen corruption, fuelling demands for "Reformasi" (reform) of the 30-year-old New Order system.

This incident was followed by waves of arrests on 200 democracy activists, 23 of whom were kidnapped (some were murdered) by army squads called Tim Mawar ("Rose Team") led by Suharto's son-in-law, Major-General Prabowo Subianto.

Efforts by the central bank to defend its managed float regime by selling dollars had little impact and instead drained Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves, forcing the government to free-float the currency and seek liquidity aid from the IMF (International Monetary Fund).

Based on IMF recommendations, the government increased interest rates to 70% in February 1998 to control spiralling inflation caused by the higher price of imports, but this action killed availability of credit to the corporate sector.

The new MPR voted unanimously to re-elect Suharto to another five-year term in office in March 1998, upon which he proceeded to appoint his protege BJ Habibie as vice-president while stacking the cabinet with his own family and business associates (his daughter Tutut became Minister of Social Affairs).