Under Suharto, avowedly authentic “indigenous” mechanisms of authoritarian
control were woven out of the rich cultural and ethnic tapestry of the
archipelago. The state was restyled as protector of diverse cultures and traditions,
and as embodying notions of authority deeply rooted in traditional
culture.61 The largely appointed supra-parliamentary body that “(re)elected”
Suharto to the presidency every five years was called the People’s Consultative
Assembly (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat), with musyawarah—consultation,
consensus—celebrated as having a genuine legitimacy among Indonesians
that competition between rival candidates, parties, ideologies, and
social forces could not claim. By the 1990s, the regime also began a concerted
effort to celebrate and appropriate the majority faith of the archipelago, Islam.62
Overall, the Indonesian state was repositioned as both authentic embodiment of
the Indonesian nation and as sole guarantor of national integrity in the midst of
potentially fractious cultural, ethnic, regional, and religious diversity.