Indonesia’s Heroic History
Indonesian national heroes are state approved. Is Suharto, an old president with a history of violence, worthy of the title?
When Indonesia’s former president Suharto died aged 86 in 2008, the nation began a week of mourning and conflicted reflection. It was, wrote the Jakarta Post, the end of a ‘remarkable life’; it was also, it hoped, the end of autocratic presidencies. Foreign obituaries were less measured: ‘Dictator brought order and bloodshed’, said the New York Times.
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