Francis ChanIndonesia Bureau ChiefIn Jakarta

When former Business Times jour-nalist Vasuki Shastry left Indonesia 20 years ago, the country was on the verge of collapse.

President Suharto had just been ousted after over 30 years in power, and Indonesia was hard hit by the Asian financial crisis a year earlier.

“People had given up on it for good, saying that after the fall of Suharto and because of the eco-nomic conditions at the time, the country will never recover... but I think in its own way, Indonesia fig-ured out a path,” said the 59-year-old public affairs strategist.

Indonesia experienced a remark-able recovery, thriving on a post-cri-sis commodities boom, while prov-ing wrong many experts who had written off its ability to survive the economic and political turmoil.

Mr Vasuki, who now works for Standard Chartered Bank in Lon-don, has authored a new book that chronicles the South-east Asian na-tion’s tumultuous journey from fail-ing state to the fast-growing econ-omy it is today. Published by Straits Times Press, Resurgent Indonesia: From Crisis To Confidence is his ac-count of the country’s rise in the two decades following the crisis.

Drawing on his experience as In-donesia bureau chief for The Busi-ness Times from 1995 to 1998 and his subsequent work at the Interna-tional Monetary Fund, Mr Vasuki hopes to show how the country blended democracy and globalisa-tion to relative success.

“As a large Muslim nation at a time when the narrative about Is-lam is largely negative, this country has showed that Islam can be per-fectly compatible with democracy, perfectly compatible with globalisa-tion... and that is the most powerful lesson,” he said.

Speaking to The Straits Times on Tuesday, Mr Vasuki said he had waited for someone to write a book on Indonesia’s transformation since he left in July 1998, “but it never came”.

“And I was having a conversation with Patrick Daniel about a year and a half ago, complaining that In-donesia is not getting the credit that it deserves,” he recounted.

Mr Daniel was former deputy chief executive of Singapore Press Holdings, and the Business Times editor who hired Mr Vasuki in 1990.

On his urging, Mr Vasuki started work on the book, which he had ini-tially imagined to be premised on academic research about the finan-cial crisis in 1997 and the more re-cent 2008 global meltdown. “But during the process I discovered what pure joy there was in writing, which I kind of forgot because I hadn’t been a journalist for a long time,” he said.

The result was a story on modern Indonesia few had written about, and told in what observer Ernie Bower calls an “accessible voice”.

“Vasuki not only sees the story uniquely, but is compelled to tell it in a way many can understand,” added Mr Bower, who is senior ad-viser for South-east Asia Studies at the Centre for Strategic and Interna-tional Studies in Washington.

Mr Vasuki’s book was launched yesterday, and he will meet mem-bers of the Singapore Press Club to-day. Sharing his observations on the country he has never taken his eye off, he noted that religiosity re-mains a dominant trend, with peo-ple becoming increasingly conser-vative in their beliefs and practice.

“It is not to be dismissed or criti-cised, and is pretty natural for a country with the world’s largest Muslim population,” he said, adding it was also inevitable for political parties to capitalise on it and use re-ligion as a means to gain support.

Mr Vasuki remains optimistic about Indonesia in the years ahead, as it marks the 20th anniversary of the reform movement in May. He added that under President Joko Widodo, a moderate Muslim leader, there is hope Indonesia will continue to stay on the path of democracy.

tkchan@sph.com.sg

• Resurgent Indonesia: From CrisisTo Confidence is now available at all good bookstores, or can be purchase online for US$35 at http://www.stpressbooks.com.sg

Telling the story of modern Indonesia’s turnaround

Public affairs strategist Vasuki Shastry with his book, Resurgent Indonesia: From Crisis To Confidence, at The Straits Times bureau in Jakarta on Tuesday. The former Indonesia bureau chief for The Business Times hopes to show how Indonesia blended democracy and globalisation to relative success. PHOTO: TATAN SYUFLANA FOR THE STRAITS TIMES

Former BT journalist gives his account of how nation survived turmoil 20 years ago

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| FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 2018 | THE STRAITS TIMES | ASIA A17