In a country where at least 39% of the people live below poverty line, millions were thrown to abysmal poverty and drudgery by the recent crisis. Skyrocketing inflation drastically reduced the real income of Indonesians. Starvation deaths were widely reported. Acute food shortage increased child mortality to about 450 deaths a day. Indonesia became dependent on external supplies for food and other necessities. The economic crisis removed the cover of mass discontent against Suharto, which had been simmering for a long time. Political demonstrations demanding the resignation of President Suharto went on unabated. The police and even the armed forces failed to stem the tide of popular unrest. In this context the US imperialists thought it prudent to withdraw their support from the discredited Suharto. Consequently, President Suharto had to bow out and the reins of administration were handed over to his trusted follower B.J. Habibi, who had to announce fresh elections to the Distributive House of Representatives and Provincial Assemblies.

The role of US imperialism in the Indonesian crisis needs to be noted. The withdrawal of support from Suharto regime in the face of mass upsurge was in consonance with similar US actions in Philippines, South Korea and Pakistan. In each of these countries the USA helped local puppets to overthrow democratic regimes so that she could use them in maintaining her hegemony in regions of strategic geopolitical importance. The dictatorial regimes remained in power as long as their sponsor thought it useful for its imperialist exploitative purposes. But when the people of those countries turned hostile and the puppet rulers lost their capacity to contain them, the imperialist sponsor unhesitatingly withdrew support to the discredited regimes and advocated fresh elections to prove their "faith" in democratic processes. The same happened in Indonesia.

On June 7, 1999 Indonesia went to polls. This was the first free election held after 40 years of Suharto rule. Altogether 48 political parties fielded their candidates. The main contest was, however, between the Golkar Party founded by the ousted President Suharto and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDPI) led by Meghabati Sukarnaputri, the daughter of Sukarno who was known as Bang Karno (Brother Karno). Final results are still awaited. But the trends indicate a massive mandate for Meghabati. The Distributive House of Representatives shall elect the President of the country in November next. As per figures received till 6-30 p.m. on 29th July, 1999 the PDPI has secured 25,089,852 votes in DPR as against 13,995,216 voted won by the Golkar Party. Due to the combination of the proportional representatives and district system the DPR does not necessarily reflect the winning party's share of votes. According to one calculation the PDPI would get 154 seats out of 462 to be filled up by the districts. The Golkar party is expected to get 120 seats. Naturally, to form a government the PDPI will have to look for allies from among the 46 other parties that contested the elections. The leaders of the PDPI are apprehending manipulations and various other troubles before the final declaration of the results. Moreover, progressive sections of Indonesians are also afraid that the fate of Meghabati Sukharno may be similar to that of Aung Sung Su Chi of Myanmar.