THE GENESIS OF POWER: CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS IN INDONESIA DURING THE REVOLUTION FOR INDEPENDENCE, 1945-1949

The purpose of this dissertation is to explain why the Indonesian military as early as 1950 had secured an important place in the Indonesian political arena. The author argues that post-revolutionary civil military relations can be explained by the interaction of two important factors during the revolution for independence, 1945-1949, the involvement of the Indonesian military in politics since its inception, and the weakness of civilian governmental and political institutions. The first factor includes three sub-factors: (1) the self-creation of the military when the civilian government was reluctant to raise an army in the early days of independence; (2) the political behavior of the elected military Commander; and (3) the political experience of the military in conducting a Military Government following the surrender of the civilian government after the Dutch army attacked and occupied the Republic area.;The last chapter of the dissertation surveys post-revolutionary Indonesian civil-military relations. It suggests that after the transfer of sovereignty in 1949 it was hoped that the government would be able to control the military. But the constant bickering at that period among the civilian politicians made it impossible for the government to control the military. Military officers continued their political role, especially after the proclamation of the martial law in 1957. The political role of the military was formally recognized in 1959 when President Sukarno took over the government. Between 1959 and 1965 there were three important political actors in Indonesia: Sukarno, the military and Indonesian Communist Party. Following the purge of the Communist Party in 1965 and the demise of Sukarno in 1966, the military alone stood in control of Indonesian politics.;The second factor is the weakness of civilian governmental and political institutions. there are two reasons for this. In Indonesia, unlike in India where the British Raj created the Indian Civil Service and allowed the Indian Congress Party to develop long before independence, the Dutch in Indonesia denied the nationalist movement an opportunity to grow. The immediate cause of system weakness was the sudden change in November 1945 from the American-style presidential system to a European parliamentary system. The new system allowed the creation of many parties. The constant bickering among the parties in and out of government under the ever-present threat of Dutch annihilation of the newly-born Republic not only caused the government to lose control over the already-politicized military, but also convinced the officers to pursue their own policies of fighting for independence.