THE SUCCESS OF SOEHARTO IN MANAGING THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDONESIA : A NON-INDONESIAN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

This piece of work stems from a leadership discussion on a leader‟s effective ruling ideas in helming a nation‟s
development process. Soeharto was the second Indonesian President who was also a towering statesman. The
late former president successfully implemented pragmatic actions to achieve his planned mission and vision.
Soeharto embraced the western democracy spirit but he limited its implementation, following his own mould.
His leadership capability has brought Indonesia to a level that remains hardly imitable by other leaders of his
time or contemporary ones. As such, to serve as lessons, his ruling ideas and development management are
exemplary practices that are necessarily and suitably to be analysed by non-Indonesians. A research on one (1)
term of governance that focuses on a collection of Soeharto‟s “New Year Speeches”, “Independent Day
Speeches” and “Party Speeches” was initiated to identify his ideas of governance and inclination in carrying
out development. It was discovered that Soeharto used the Independent Day (Nationhood Speeches) as the most
significant speeches which required attention. On the other hand, his “Power-Oriented” speeches dominated
the values in development In conclusion, leaders with governing ideas and dynamic development leadership are
very much needed. The society also needs to strengthen their attitude. Reinvigoration of competent local wisdom
is also needed as a sustainable development tool. It is suggested that future study should focus on more than one
term governance to support the current discoveries and discover newer and more interesting findings.

Keywords: Ruling Ideas, Development, Soeharto, Leadership Style