SUHARTO'S RULE IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF NEO DARWINIST BIOPOLITICS FOR THE PERIOD 1965-1971

10.2478/bjlp-2022-001117

Abstract

This article seeks to prove that the Neo Darwinist Biopolitical perspective can be
used to analyze Suharto's rule in the period 1965-1971. The methodology used is qualitative
in the form of a literature study which is used to support a new theoretical explanation of a
phenomenon under study. The data used is taken through various books, journals,
documents, newspaper news, both available offline and online. Researchers assume that
various secondary data on Suharto's rule in the research period are available quite a lot. In
order to explain Suharto's power using the Neo Darwinist Biopolitical theory, the researcher
asked three research questions. First, how Suharto built power between 1965 and 1968 is
associated with the concept of bonding, coalition formation, and dyadic hierarchy. Second,
how Suharto's efforts to dominate national politics are associated with the concept of
reproducing power in complex hierarchies, and inclusive fitness mechanisms. Third, why
Suharto's asymmetrical dominance of the various political hierarchies that existed allowed
him to create a political obedience that allowed the 1971 elections to support his power to
ensure the predictability of the species. The novelty of the article is that in developing his
power, Suharto was different from Sukarno, who in the biopolitical point of view, Suharto
tended to absorb (absorb) the various complex hierarchies that existed into his power while
Sukarno tended to centralize power with the focus was to defeat the political forces that
opposed him frontally. Another finding is that the authoritarianism developed by Suharto
was an automatic choice (default option) and caused the state to avoid anarchy due to the
continuous competition between political forces such as the Sukarno era