Contemporary art arose in Indonesia from the 1970s and 1980s as a reaction against the search for national identity that in some way had an ‘official’ basis. The Government, controlled by the military and technocrats, who called themselves ‘the New Order’, pursued industrialisation with the help of multinational investment. The Suharto regime, on the one hand, was ultranationalist, but, on the other, was submissive in terms of applying international economic policies. The regime used repressive measures in gaining land and changing traditions to safeguard the process of industrialisation. Political stability was perceived to be a requirement for investment and was utilised as a reason for the exercise of power.