JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – Today (May 21) exactly fifteen years ago is the day of the fall of New Order regime. On that day, May 21, 1998, General Soeharto stepped down after ruling the country as President with his authoritarian New Order regime for 32 years. Do you still remember that? And what we’ve got after fifteen years from the kick off of the reform locomotive?
Here what people said through social media:
“I remember 15 years ago my teacher told me to remove Soeharto’s photograph from my classroom’s wall. I literally took the president down,” said one twitter account.
“15 years ago we removed Soeharto but not his Cronies,” another twitter account said.
“And now there people said that Soeharto’s era is better because everything are cheap. Yeah including your life,” said another twitter account sarcastically.
“So you think Soeharto’s era is better than SBY’s? Think again.” Another twitter account suggested.
“Fifteen years after Soeharto stepped down and nine years among them under SBY’s regime were spent for nothing,” one twitter account criticized.
“Today is the day when Soeharto resigns 15 years ago, I was still a child at the time n knew nothing of politics,” another twitter account said.
“My timeline full about Soeharto..15 years ago? I sit on my room, watched spongebob,” another twitter account expressed its unconcerned.
Other than that, students and activists in major cities throughout the country, including Jakarta, have staged a peaceful rally to remember the fall of Soeharto’s regime. They also stated that the reform has been failed. They didn’t see a progressive changes as the government cannot addressed fundamental problems in the country such as in combating corruption practices and crony capitalism. (haryanto@yosefardi.com)