29
where repression took place, they did little to bolster the Indonesian state’s coercive apparatuses.
Indonesian rebellions were small by Korean standards.
23
Postcolonial State Building in South Korea (1948- 1970)
South Korea became an independent country in 1948 and Indonesia in 1949. The two
states were to change significantly afterwards, but the legacies of decolonization continued while
their effects gradually dissipated during the next two decades. As I argue below, this continuity
was partly sustained by other chains of events and specific actions of state-builders to
consolidate their power bases. Both South Korea and Indonesia faced civil wars, which
strengthened both states. However, Rhee Syngman’s strategies to consolidate his power differed
greatly from those of Sukarno (and later, Suharto). This difference interacted with the distinct
legacies of decolonization in each country to produce very different outcomes of development up
to the early 1970s.
In 1948 when he became president, Rhee’s most dangerous opponents like communist
leaders Kim Ilsung and Pak Honyong were in the north, and the Southern communist movement
was shattered. Still, he faced institutional constraints and some organized opposition. The
National Assembly, which had been elected under the MG, was the main institutional check on
Rhee’s power. The Assembly in 1948 had vast powers, including the right to elect a president
and the right to approve the appointment of a prime minister (Reeve 41). The Assembly was not
as powerful as it seemed since the majority of members in 1948-50 were independents.
Organized opposition came from a small leftist group (So-jang pa) and the supporters of Kim Ku
and Kim Kyusik, two veteran nationalists who opposed Rhee’s extreme anticommunism and
23
If casualties can be used as a measure of repression, the Cheju rebellion lasted for a year and claimed about
60,000 lives, or one-fifth of the island population. The Madiun rebellion led by Musso was smashed in two weeks
and could not have generated more than a few thousand deaths.
Convention