impressed Suharto, who invited them to begin work as a team of experts in the field of economics and finance. Accomplishments and controversies On October 3, 1966, on the advice of these economists and others, Suharto announced a program aimed at stabilization and rehabilitation of Indonesia's economy. The Berkeley Mafia focused on low inflation, fiscal constraint, and market deregulation. The program also aimed at rehabilitation of infrastructure and development of the agricultural sector. At the same time, an international program to support economic recovery was established under the auspices of a newly-formed Inter-Governmental Group on Indonesia. The new economic program was successful at stabilizing the economy. Inflation fell from 650% in 1966 to only 13% in 1969. After Suharto became president in 1968, the members of the Berkeley Mafia team were appointed to ministerial and senior advisory posts in Suharto's cabinet. Thus, the group had a great influence on economic policy and successfully brought Indonesia's economy to an unprecedented growth period. The growth rate was high, averaging around 6.5% per year between the late 1960s and 1997, when South East Asia was hit by the severe Asian financial crisis. The Berkeley Mafia's liberal approach towards economics was not supported by everyone. Within the New Order, it encountered opposition from generals such as Ali Murtopo, Ibnu Sutowo and Ali Sadikin, whose economic approaches were more nationalistic in nature. Some other groups, like the Indonesian branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir, considered the Berkeley Mafia to be traitors, a view stemming particularly from its willingness to privatise the nation's industries. With the beginning of the oil boom in the mid-1970s, Suharto favored the economic nationalists and so the Berkeley Mafia's influence was restricted. Suharto would turn to the Berkeley Mafia again in the mid-1980s, when the price of oil began to drop and with it Indonesia's economic growth. The Berkeley Mafia presided over the liberalization, deregulation, and the renewed growth of the Indonesian economy. Once again, the Indonesian economy began to grow, and once again, the Berkeley Mafia encountered political opposition. This time, their opponents were Sudharmono and Ginandjar Kartasasmita, who advocated economic nationalism, as well as BJ Habibie, who wanted a technology-centered economic development. As on the previous occasion, Suharto sided with the economic nationalists, and the Berkeley Mafia's power weakened. During Indonesia's economic collapse from the 1997 Asian financial crisis, people blamed the Berkeley Mafia and considered it to be part of