Indonesia must face up to Suharto’s crimes

The death of Indonesia’s former President Suharto, has provoked a divisive debate about his 32 years of authoritarian rule. Is it time for the country to face up to his crimes?

The death of Indonesia's former President Suharto, almost ten years after he was overthrown, has provoked a divisive debate about his 32 years of authoritarian rule, says Richard Lloyd Parry in The Times.

As the incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono praised Suharto for "service to the nation", former political opponents lamented that he was never brought to justice for his crimes. In 1965, after a coup attempt against President Sukarno, allegedly by the Indonesian Communist Party, General Suharto took control and gave his tacit approval to the massacre of an estimated 500,000 people with alleged communist affiliations.

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