Berkeley Mafia

The Berkeley Mafia was the term given to a group of University of California-trained economists in Indonesia who were given technocratic positions under the Suharto dictatorship during the late 1960s. They were appointed in the early stages of the New Order administration. Their work focused on promoting free-market capitalism in Indonesia and reversing many of the economic reforms that had been introduced by the Sukarno government, besides that Suharto claimed that he rejects capitalism, however later he supported capitalism. The economic system in place under the New Order regime was termed crony capitalism due to the vast corruption within the country throughout this period. The Berkeley Mafia, like the Suharto dictatorship itself, aligned with the United States during the Cold War. While sharing many similarities with the Chicago Boys in Chile (1970s–80s), such as staunch anti-communism, the Berkeley Mafia was not considered to be neoliberal unlike the former. The group included Widjojo Nitisastro, Mohammad Sadli, Emil Salim, J. B. Sumarlin, and Ali Wardhana. Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti who graduated later from Berkeley is also sometimes included as a member of this group.