General Soeharto came into power by a coup in 1965. In the aftermath more than 1 million communists and alleged communists were killed. For 32 years Soeharto managed a stronghold on Indonesia's economic, political, social and cultural life. Soeharto legitimized his authoritative style of rule with his economic success story for Indonesia. In his view order was necessary for economic growth.

Soeharto was called Pak Pembangunan or Father Development. Although he brought economic development and built schools and hospitals for the poor, the gap between Indonesia's rich and poor became bigger than ever. Especially Soeharto's family members, friends, and cronies accumulated massive wealth. It was said that the President and his children owned more than 40 billion dollars in foreign bank accounts.

In 1997 Indonesia was hit by the Asian economic crisis and Soeharto could no longer legitimize his authoritative style of rule. Students and activists took the opportunity by organizing massive protests. They not only demanded free and fair elections, freedom of organization and speech, but also that the former President be part of a corruption investigation.