February 26, 2026 | 03:00 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - After two decades, Hasto Kristiyanto still remembers his introduction to Karen Brooks. At the time, he accompanied Taufiq Kiemas, the husband of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI P) General Chair Megawati Soekarnoputri, to a forum organized by the United States-Indonesia Society. The non-governmental cooperation organization held a discussion on democracy in Indonesia.
Taufiq explained PDI-P's decision not to join the governing coalition of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Yudhoyono rose to the presidency on the back of a new party he established, the Democrat Party. Its creation strained his relationship with President Megawati. He was dismissed as Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs ahead of the 2004 General Election.
After the discussion, Hasto struck up a conversation with Brooks, who had spoken at the forum. "She helped us meet with US senators and briefed them that (state ideology) Pancasila and Islam could go hand in hand with democracy," Hasto told Tempo on January 21, 2026. At the time, in 2004, he served as a member of the House of Representatives (DPR).
According to Hasto, Brooks spoke fluently about Indonesia's political dynamics. Her 1995 thesis at Cornell University, titled The Rustle of Ghosts: Bung Karno in the New Order, was part of the Indonesia Project led by noted Indonesianist Benedict Anderson.
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