Agenda, Volume
7
,
Number 2, 2000, pages 99-112
Soeharto’s Indonesia: A Better Class of
Corruption
Ross H. McLeod
"TTndonesia has a reputation as one of the most corrupt countries in the world
I (Transparency International, 1999). Unlike many others that are regarded as
highly corrupt, however, this was not incompatible with rapid economic
progress over three decades, and Soeharto’s New Order regime clearly brought
considerable material benefits to the majority of the population. Some argue that
endemic corruption was unsustainable and that it was responsible for the
unravelling that has been seen since mid 1997, but while the nature of
government-business relationships undoubtedly contributed in important ways to
the crisis, the mechanisms by which this occurred have yet to be adequately
described. The present paper attempts to fill this gap.
