Drafting a democracy An analysis on the drafting process of the election laws after the fall of President Suharto in Indonesia,1998-1999 Gunnar Gase Handeland

My interest for Indonesian politics started when I was on a study tour to the archipelago in 1995. At that time, Indonesia was a growing economy with a stabile but not democratic, political situation. What happened during the Asian crisis only three years later changed the situation rapidly, and I was curious to study the political turmoils that took place. Therefore, I was lucky to start my work with this thesis only months after Suharto stepped down in 1998, and I have to thank both the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Oslo and The Ryoichi Sasakawa Fund for the funding which enabled me to travel to Indonesia and do research there. I also want to thank Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS) in Copenhagen who gave me a Scholarship so I could stay at their institute for two weeks in 1999. Allthough everything seemed to be prepared for my studies I was unfortunately not able to finish the thesis on regular time. I got a job, dropped out of my studies and have been working with all other things than Indonesian politics for the last years. Nevertheless I have not given up my hope to finish it. Therefore, I would like to thank my supervisor, Olle Törnquist, for his encouragement and patience, fo