The Fall of Sukarno and the Rise of Suharto
By 1964 and 1965, the Indonesian economy was in terrible shape. Shortages of food and clothing were common. Prices during 1965 increased by 700 percent, and the price of rice increased even more. The government's budget deficit was running at 300 percent. Millions of people collected a government salary, but it was worth less and less each month. ABRI personnel in particular found themselves unable to support themselves without engaging in smuggling or other corrupt activities. The 1957-58 rebellions, the West Irian campaign, and the preparations for Konfrontasi had all been expensive for both the government as a whole and for ABRI.
Subsequently, Sukarno’s twenty-two year reign as Indonesia’s president was halted by an attempted coup lead by General Suharto. The general capitalised on Sukarno’s discontent with the US by seeking help from them which leads to the killing of six generals on September 30th 1965, in an event called G30S-PKI.
Following the G30S incident, there were many hundreds of thousands who were arrested. These people were called "Tahanan Politik" for "political resisters", often shortened to TAPOL. They were classed in three categories. Category A were people considered dangerous PKI leaders or associates who were put on trial. Category B were a larger group of people who were held on suspicion but without trial; many were sent to internal exile on Buru. Category C were people who were only detained briefly, maybe as many as 500,000. No matter what category, all these people were required to have a mark on their personal ID card indicating that they were TAPOL for many years afterward.
Suharto then rose to power, He was the President of Indonesia from 1967 until 1998. Most of his long presidency was marked by economic growth and enforced consensus.