Essay — Effectiveness of Maximum Governments (26/30)

‘Maximumgovernmentswereeffectiveindealingwithpolitical challengesandpopularoppositiontomaintainpolitical stability.’ Howfar doyouagreewiththisjudgement? The political stability of Southeast Asian states was inextricably tied to their maximumgovernments’ varying abilities to prevent andwithstandchallengesfrompolitical adversariesand popular uprisings. While authoritarian regimes successfully clung to power in the shortterm by purging challengers, suppressing movements and courting military and businesssupport, these very tactics would later intensify opposition and contribute to the eventualdownfall of regimes in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. Ultimately, the responses ofauthoritarian leaders were effective insofar that they averted immediatedeposition, but theirdestructive implications for legitimacy—thebedrockof truepolitical stability—render thesesuperficial victoriespyrrhic. At the start, leaders of maximum governments were ostensibly effective in dealing withpolitical challenges in three ways. First, they purged opponents from political and militaryinstitutions, effectively removing key threats to preserve their continued rule and politicalstability. Such purges were common in the initial phases of Suharto’s New Order: theformerly-influential PKI wasexterminatedbySuharto’smassacreof over amillioncommunistsympathisers in Jakarta and Java following the Gestapu coup, and the PNI’s leadingintellectual Sitor Situmorang was imprisoned from 1967 to 1975. This elimination ofopposition extended to the military: Nasution, whose influential stature as an independencewar hero could potentially challenge Suharto’s rule, was forced to retire as MPRS (i.e.Parliament) Chairman in 1972. Coupled with similar purges of Secret Service GeneralSumitro and once-loyal commander Murdani in 1974 and 1988 respectively, Suharto’seffective removal of challengers contributed to his 33-year regime’s temporal durability —amarker of political stability. Asimilar story unfolded in Thailand: after Phibun’scoup, severalnortheastern supporters of Pridi were arrested in 1948, and three pro-Pridi MPs were shotwhile in police custody. Phibun’s response to challenges from the military was even moreresolute: anattemptedcoupbynavysoldiersin1951promptedPhibun’slieutenantstobomband sink the navy’s flagship, deterring any future resistance. Such decisive elimination ofopponents enabled Phibun to retain power until 1957, limiting regime change and politicalinstability. Hence, by swiftly eradicating potential challengers via murder or imprisonment,maximumgovernmentscouldeffectivelymaintaincontrol and, byextension, stability. Additionally, authoritarian leaders successfully suppressed mass movements throughforceful crackdown and legal controls, limiting the scale of popular opposition that entails

instability. In Indonesia, Suharto’s forces clamped down harshly on the 1974 Malari Riots,ending the riots within two days by arresting 770 and firing upontherioters. Tenyearslater,Suha