This book traces and analyses Indonesian national security policy as it evolved through the post-independence era and the significant changes evident since May 1998, when nearly four decades of authoritarian rule under Sukarno and Suharto gave way to the reformasi era. The role of the military and the rationalization of its role through various security doctrines and strategies, though contested, remain the overarching ordering structure of the Indonesian state.

These operational doctrines and the security structures that evolved out of them generated a sense of confidence in the custodial role played by security institutions, whose views on Indonesia became the lenses through which the world's political and investment communities viewed the country. Much of the current disenchantment with Indonesia stems from the perception that stability can only be achieved if there is a return to the outmoded and imposing security structures of the Suharto era. The democratic transition began in earnest in 1999, remains messy and uncoordinated, with some laments in Indonesian society that “things were better under Suharto”. But while Indonesian culture, particularly Javanese culture, extols the virtues of stability, Indonesians would not substitute hard-won freedoms for policies that empower security institutions at the expense of human security. Such perspectives were evident in the acrimonious debates surrounding anti-terrorist legislation. Indonesians, while appreciative of the need for instruments to tackle terrorism, preferred to take incremental steps in devising laws with adequate safeguards to prevent the kind of human rights violations associated with the Suharto regime's exploitation of Dutch colonial anti-subversion laws.

The core values for national security (see Chapter 1) and the security doctrines that supported the hegemony of the Suharto era state are under scrutiny as the country democratizes. Progress, while slow, is taking place and that the Indonesian people should be allowed the opportunity and scope to make a success of their democratic experiment.