Socio-Political Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Ocea- nia, between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of more than seventeen thousand is- lands, including Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Sulawesi, and New Guinea. Indonesia is a constitu- tional democracy. After the fall of president Suharto’s prolonged authoritarian New Order regime in 1998 various constitutional amendments were made in order to reduce effective power of the country’s executive branch, thus making a new dictatorship almost impossible. PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD OF INDONESIA Sources indicate that the archipelago contained multiple political entities from early on in its history. These various entities slowly evolved from political centers around individuals whose leadership was legitimized by the possession of certain skills and charisma to leaders who legitimized their hold on power by claiming to be godlike figures equipped with super- natural powers, supported by paid armies and a population that paid tribute to the king. COLONIAL PERIOD OF INDONESIA The arrival of the Europeans, attracted by the promising perspectives of the spice trade, is one of the major watersheds in the history of the archipelago. Having more advanced tech- nology and weaponry at hand, the Portuguese and - in particular - the Dutch succeeded in be- coming influential economic and political powers that would ultimately domi- nate the archipelago and laid down new political frameworks and boundaries. SOEKARNO’S OLD ORDER Soekarno, Indonesia’s first president, is rightfully seen as the icon of the nationalist struggle against the colonizers. But after independence had finally been achieved, he faced the difficult task of guiding a new nation, plagued by trau- mas from the past and conflicts of political and social forc- es in the present. It proved to be a too daunting task for the young and inexperienced generation of Indonesian poli- ticians, resulting in the chaotic middle years of the 1960s. Soekarno