Yes, Indonesia is a typical third-world kleptocracy, although I believe many countries are worse. If you want to do business with them, you have to play their game.
But since Time so regularly violates the principles of fundamental truth and fairness, I can’t get too worked up about their plight. I would imagine they went after Suharto not because he was corrupt—not uncommon in most parts of the world—but because he was strongly anti-Communist and did much to reverse the red tide in Asia. Somehow they only get indignant about “right-wing” dictators.
Pinochet bad, Castro good. Suharto bad, Chavez good.
I shipped a quantity of drilling workover fluid to Balikpapan via chartered tanker some years back. The Indonesians demanded a 100 percent bribe (tax) before they would allow it to be unloaded.