The council has seven members: Marshall Djoko Sujanto, Haryono Suyono, TB Silalalahi, Juwono Sudarsono, Quraish Shihab, Edi Sedyawati and Jimly Assiddhiqie. Four of these council members served as ministers while Soeharto was president. Haryono Suyono served as coordinating public welfare minister during the New Order, and is currently running a foundation established by Soeharto.

This Oct. 21 (some say Oct. 22) will mark the 1,000th day after Soeharto’s death, and some Indonesians plan to remember him through a number of events and ceremonies. There is a plan to publish a book compiling people’s comments on Soeharto titled Life during the New Order was better than life today. It seems that Soeharto is only a step away from becoming a national hero.

In 1997, a year prior to his resignation, Soeharto promoted three individuals to 5-star general status: Sudirman, for his services as the father of the war of independence; A.H. Nasution, for introducing the Indonesian Military’s dual-function concept; and Soeharto, himself, as the person “who saved the state and the nation from the threat of the Sept. 30, 1965 Coup by the Indonesian Communist Party (G30S/PKI)”.

During the months after Oct. 1, 1965, mass killings took place, claiming the lives of about 500,000 people. Such a large number of victims could not have been the result of a horizontal social conflict. One thing was certain: It all started with a military operation.

The question remains: who gave the order? Could a person be regarded as a savior of a nation when the number of victims was so great? former president Sukarno was furious and ordered the killings to be stopped. But who would listen to an aging former leader stripped of his power? If Sukarno was not responsible for the national tragedy, who was? A “crawling coup d’état” describes the power struggle that took place between the G30S and March 11, 1966, the day the famous “Supersemar” (Surat Perintah 11 Maret) letter handed supreme authority to Soeharto, “saving the state and nation”.

This is not a criticism of Soeharto deciding to award himself the five star rank. He could take the stars to his final resting place. However, many people still question whether Soeharto is worthy of the national hero title, the highest award in Indonesia and an honor that will live on throughout history. Only role models whose efforts to defend the nation at the cost of their own lives deserve such an honorary title.

Soeharto was in power for a very long time, which gave him considerable time for nation building.

Countless buildings were erected and thousands of kilometers of roads were constructed. Regardless of the fact that a great deal of the money budgeted for these projects was embezzled, Indonesia received many tangible benefits of development. However, we should not forget the great losses suffered by people who were evicted or whose lands were forcefully taken or acquired at unfair prices in the name of development.

Regional politics worked well under Soeharto. As a regional cooperative model, ASEAN managed to suppress conflicts and provided member governments with the opportunity to run their countries safely, even though “security” often meant repressing social criticism. Press freedom was restrained, and human rights were violated. With respect to the latter, the following made history: Banishment of over 10,000 people to the island of Buru after the post-G30S mass murders; the mysterious killings in the 1980s, including cases such as Tanjung Priok and Talangsari Lampung; the attack on the PDI office at Jalan Diponegoro on July 27,1996; and military operations in Aceh, Papua and Timor Leste. They all transpired during Soeharto’s reign of power.

Sukarno, who declared Indonesian independence, was named a national hero in 1986, 16 years after his death in 1970. Soeharto died in 2008. Is it urgently necessary to have him declared a national hero now? If bringing the serious cases of human rights violations to court is no longer possible, at least we should allow the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to do their job.

The central government and the House of Representatives do not regard this as a serious matter, which may be part of the reason why the process of reconciliation has progressed so very slowly. The promulgated Law on Truth and Reconciliation Commission was revoked by the Constitutional Court when Jimly Asshidiqie was chairman. Another draft has been prepared by the  Justice and Human Rights Ministry, and has already been delivered to the State Secretariat.

The best thing for the government to do is not to delay the submission of the draft to the House which will complete the process of making it an effective law. This is an extremely long road to revealing the truth.

In my opinion, awarding Soeharto the national hero title should only take place after the Commission has properly done their job — finding the truth. National hero status cannot be revoked once it has been awarded. Naming Soeharto a national hero would put an end to ongoing efforts to reveal the New Order’s alleged crimes against humanity. It would be ironically sad to have a national hero who was allegedly involved in serious human rights violations and large-scale corruption.  

The writer is a historian with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).

Popular

Kadin urges stability after Constitutional Court ruling

Jokowi says transition to new government to begi

BCA loan disbursement surges 17.1 percent yoy in first quarter