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98Islam, Democracy and Human Rights in Contemporary IndonesiaNatsir%u2019s interest in the development of democracy and thedecline of constitutionalism in the New Order era also emergedin his 1980s writings. He regarded the Indonesian developmentstrategy, even though it had brought successes, as tending towiden the gap between the rich and the poor. He was deeplyconcerned about the willingness of the New Order to apply theConstitution of 1945, consequently and as it was, which inpractice tended to lead to a concentration of power. Natsir%u2019sarticle entitled %u201cIndonesia di Persimpangan Jalan%u201d (Indonesiaat the Crossroads), which was co-written with A.H. Nasutionand Sanusi Hardjadinata, severely criticized this implementationof the Constitution of 1945 by the New Order.In Natsir%u2019s view, the longer the New Order was in power,the more obvious it was that the implementation of democracydid not conform to the provisions stated in the Constitution of1945. He construed the five packages of political legislation,including those about political parties and Golkar (thegovernment-supported party), general elections and themembership component of representative bodies, to be theproducts of a legislation that did not concur with the sovereigntyof the people and the Constitution of 1945. Therefore, heregarded Indonesia in the 1980s as standing at the crossroadsbetween the ideals of a state based on law and an authoritarianstate. However, Natsir%u2019s attitude toward the New Order shouldnot only to be seen only from its dark side. In fact, after 1992,Natsir%u2019s opinion changed in many respects along with thechanges made by the Soeharto government itself. In the duskof his life, without being recognized by outside circles, Natsirbasically supported the establishment of the IkatanCendekiawan Muslim se-Indonesia (ICMI %u2014The Association of