As you may have noticed earlier today, Suharto died. I have received a couple emails from readers saying I was rude by saying good riddance at the end of my post. Let’s take a look at Suharto and see exactly why I would say such a thing.
He seized power to become the leader of Indonesia in 1967 and stayed in power until 1998. His ability to keep stability and his definite anti-Communist stance brought him economic and diplomatic support from several western governments, including the United States. He is credited with developing Indonesia’s economic expansion that made his country the envy of the developing world, yet today 3/4 of the people in the country are poor and long for a return of his era, not because he was a nice guy, but because the price of rice and other goods were affordable back then.
While he was leading his country to economic greatness he was responsible for killing up to one million people. He was a brutal dictator who used force and fear to keep his subjects in line, and if they disagreed or spoke out, they were killed. A majority of the deaths occurred during his rise to power, yet, over the course of the next three decades more than 300,000 people were killed in East Timor, Aceh, and Papua.
I don’t care what a person does for their county. How great are they if they bring economic expansion and stability and are yet responsible for the death of more than a million people who simply disagreed with him?
Suharto was not a great man, he was a man that was allowed to kill people at his own whim with no morals and no reverance to their rights as human beings. So now you know why I said good riddance at the end of the obituary for him.
Western governments ignored his brutality all in the name of money and they are again ignoring his brutality while paying homage to him after death.
The United States Sunday hailed former Indonesian president Suharto as a “historic figure” who “achieved remarkable economic development,” in a statement released by its embassy here.
“President Suharto led Indonesia for over 30 years, a period during which Indonesia achieved remarkable economic and social development,” ambassador Cameron Hume said in the release.
…
The ambassador did not mention the accusations of widespread graft and human rights abuses that plagued Suharto’s 32-year rule.
“Though there may be some controversy over his legacy, President Suharto was a historic figure who left a lasting imprint on Indonesia and the region of Southeast Asia,” the statement read.
If I remember correctly there was another brutal dictator that was our “ally” for many years. If memory serves me right, we ignored his transgressions as well, and only chose to demonize him when he decided he no longer cared what the Western world thought and took his ball to play on another playground.
The only reason Suharto was not treated the same way was because western countries like the United States decided to place a gold star on his forehead for economic achievement rather than send him to the principles office for being a big bad bully.
Sources:
Wikipedia
The Canadian Press
Suharto killer file
AFP News
Who the hell would be mad at you for saying good riddance to a guy who built a political career on terror and murder?
Wow. You have some strange readers.
Comment by Vinny on Jan 27th, 2008 @ 19:13
Tell me about it.
They must be the product of government run schools with no idea what’s really happening in the world today.
Comment by Slobokan on Jan 27th, 2008 @ 19:38