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[[Image:Soekarno.jpg|thumb|right|170px|[[Sukarno]], Indonesia's founding president.]]
Sukarno's presidency moved from democracy towards authoritarianism and relied on balancing the opposing forces of the [[Military of Indonesia|Military]], Islam and [[Communism]].<ref>Ricklefs (1991), pages 237 - 280</ref> Increasing tensions, however, between the military and the increasingly powerful [[Communist Party of Indonesia]] (PKI) culminated in an attempted coup on 30 September 1965, in which six top-ranking generals were murdered under [[Indonesian Civil War#Revelations and mysteries|contentious circumstances]]. The army, led by [[Suharto|Major General Suharto]], countered with a violent [[Anti-communism|anti-communist]] purge in which the dominant PKI was blamed for the coup{{Fact|date=May 2007}} and effectively destroyed. Hundreds of thousands were killed; the most widely accepted estimates are in the range of 500,000 to one million.<ref>{{cite journal |author=John Roosa and Joseph Nevins |date=5 November 2005 |url=http://www.counterpunch.org/roosa11052005.html|title=40 Years Later: The Mass Killings in Indonesia |accessdate=2006-11-12 |journal=[[CounterPunch (newsletter)|Counterpunch]]}}</ref><ref>; {{cite journal |title=Unresolved Problems in the Indonesian Killings of 1965-1966 |author=Robert Cribb |journal=Asian Survey |volume=42 |issue=4 |date=2002 |pages=550-563 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/as.2002.42.4.550}}</ref> Politically, Suharto capitalized on Sukarno's gravely weakened position; by March 1967, he had [[Overthrow of Sukarno|maneuvered himself into the presidency]] in a drawn-out power play between the two. Suharto's [[New Order (Indonesia)|"New Order"]] administration<ref>{{cite journal |title=General Suharto's New Order |author=John D. Legge |journal=Royal Institute of International Affairs |volume=44 |issue=1 |date=1968 |pages=40-47 |url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0020-5850%28196801%2944%3A1%3C40%3AGSNO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-I}}</ref>administration encouraged foreign [[investment]] in Indonesia, a major factor in the subsequent three decades of substantial economic growth.
In 1997-1998, however, Indonesia was the country hardest hit by the [[East Asian Financial Crisis]].<ref>{{cite book | last =Delhaise | first =Philippe F. | title =Asia in Crisis: The Implosion of the Banking and Finance Systems | publisher =Willey | date =1998 | pages =p.123 | id = ISBN 0-471-83450-5}}</ref> aggravating popular discontent with the now weakenendweakened 'New Order'.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Indonesia: from showcase to basket case |author=Jonathan Pincus and Rizal Ramli |journal=Cambridge Journal of Economics |volume=22 |issue=6 |pages=723-734 |url=http://cje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/22/6/723|date=1998|doi=10.1093/cje/22.6.723}}</ref> Following [[Indonesian Revolution of 1998|popular protests]], Suharto resigned on 21 May 1998.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/events/indonesia/latest_news/97848.stm |title=President Suharto resigns |publisher=[[BBC]] |date=21 May 1998 |accessdate=2006-11-12}}</ref> East Timor voted to secede from Indonesia in 1999, following the 1975 [[Indonesian invasion of East Timor|invasion]] and subsequent [[East Timor#The Indonesians|twenty-five-year occupation]] marked by international condemnation for repression and human rights abuses.<ref>{{cite web |last=Burr |first=W. |authorlink= |coauthors=Evans, M.L. |title=Ford and Kissinger Gave Green Light to Indonesia's Invasion of East Timor, 1975: New Documents Detail Conversations with Suharto |work=National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 62 |publisher=[[National Security Archive]], [[The George Washington University]], Washington, DC |date=6 Dec 2001 |url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB62 |format= |doi= |accessdate=2006-09-17}}; {{cite web |title=International Religious Freedom Report |work=Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor |publisher=U.S. Department of State |date=2002-10-17 |url=http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2002/13873.htm |accessdate=2006-09-29}}</ref> The [[Reformation (Indonesia)|''Reformasi'']] era since Suharto's resignation has seen a strengthening of democratic processes including a regional autonomy program and the first [[Indonesian presidential election, 2004|direct presidential election]] in 2004. Progress has been slowed, however, by political and economic instability, social unrest, corruption and terrorism. Although relations among different religious and ethnic groups are largely harmonious, acute sectarian discontent, even violence, remains a problem in some areas.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Robert W. Hefner |date=2000 |url=http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/csrpl/RINVol3No1/east_timor.htm |title=Religious Ironies in East Timor |volume=3 |issue=1 |accessdate=2006-12-12 |journal=Religion in the News}}</ref> A political settlement to an armed separatist conflict in [[Aceh]] was achieved in 2005.<ref>{{cite news |title=Aceh rebels sign peace agreement |publisher=[[BBC]] |date=15 August 2005 |accessdate=2006-12-12 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4151980.stm}}</ref>
==Government and politics==
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