J

strong>June 9, Online

The Grand General HM Soeharto Memorial, chronicling the life of the second Indonesian president, opened on Saturday.

Siti Hardijanti 'Tutut' Rukmana, Soeharto's eldest daughter, said the memorial would tell the truth about the former president.

'There are systematic efforts to wipe out the service of the great General Soeharto throughout his life,' Tutut said during the inauguration of the memorial in Kemusuk village, Bantul regency, Yogyakarta.

Your comments:

For a minute there, I thought that 'HM' was for 'His Majesty'; appropriate, as Indonesia actually inherited Dutch lèse majesté laws.

Brass statues and the well where the 'Grand General' was first bathed sound like something from a personality cult ' North Korea has something similar for Kim Il-sung, who is still that country's 'eternal president'.

If Soeharto's family wants their own shrine to the man, that is their business.

Ken Westmoreland

Soeharto was a great, visionary leader and statesman who achieved unity in diversity.

He adopted policies suitable for the country when he became the president of Indonesia and should receive full credit for bringing stability to Southeast Asia, Indonesia included.

Life during his time was more disciplined and peaceful for Indonesians in general. He lived his life with dignity.

JD Maru

To negate crimes against humanity is a crime by itself.

If Soeharto's family and old friends omit to acknowledge that Soeharto was responsible for many serious crimes, then they lie to Indonesians, and this is a serious lie.

Soeharto took power by launching a murderous campaign in 1965 against communists and many other innocent people. Hundreds of thousands were tortured and killed.

In 1975, he ordered the illegal military invasion of East Timor.

In the 1980s he ordered the Petrus (mysterious killings), a wave of extrajudicial executions. This is only part of Soeharto's human rights record.

Sabar Paijo