There was a sense of deja vu when former president Soeharto was admitted to Pertamina Hospital in Jakarta over the weekend.

Just about everyone of importance in the country, from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to senior politicians, trooped in and out of his hospital room, to convey their best wishes as if for the last time, while Soeharto's loyal supporters demanded the government drop all corruption charges against him so he could die in peace.

But as in previous years this turned out to be another false alarm. Soeharto recovered and will, according to his doctors, soon be discharged and sent home. We have gone through this exercise almost every year for the last five or six years, and this latest incident followed what has by now become a predictable script. The same faces visited the hospital, and made the same remarks as the last time around.

As always, Soeharto's ill health, and the presumption of his imminent death, sparked a public debate on how the nation treats its second president. He is still facing charges of corruption and a human rights commission is still investigating or compiling reports of his poor human rights record while in office. Even without these official investigations, Soeharto is still seen by much of the public as someone who left behind as his legacy a violent and corrupt political culture.

To the younger generation, Soeharto is someone who stole a lot of money from the state while president. At least that was how he was portrayed when he called it quits in May 1998, and that is how he is still largely known by the young people of today.

To those old enough to have had a taste of his rule, Soeharto could be a hero, or a villain, or both at the same time. He saved Indonesia from communism, brought political stability and economic development. Granted, he had the oil money to help him spend his way to development.

Soeharto is remembered by many as someone who oversaw rapid economic growth, ensuring they had food on the table, that they were able to send their children to school and that they had access to affordable health care. Looking at conditions today, where these things no longer come cheap, it is not surprising that some people miss the "golden days" of Soeharto.

At the same time, Soeharto is also remembered as a corrupt president, or at least as one who was surrounded by children and cronies who abused his office to enrich themselves.

Soeharto is also the man responsible for the suppression of their freedoms and basic human rights, and for the killings that took place in East Timor, Papua, Aceh and other places in the archipelago. Older people remember him as the person who presided over the massacre of suspected communists in 1965 and 1966.

The sad part of Soeharto's story is not so much his prolonged illness but that he is squandering valuable time and opportunity to rectify the misdeeds he committed during his 32-year rule. He has never been tried for his alleged crimes, managing to duck trial in the 10 years since he left office.

Those demanding he be tried for corruption and human rights atrocities are doing so not so much out of revenge, as to give him the opportunity to come clean and help the nation establish the truth about the circumstances of the tragic events during his reign. There is no sense in exacting revenge on an ailing 86-year-old, but the man holds the answers to many unanswered questions surrounding important episodes in the life of the nation.

His family and lawyers have bent over backward to prevent Soeharto from ever going to court because they have their own personal interests to protect. They are not really looking after his interests, which is his public image.

As many people have proposed, Soeharto should be tried, even in absentia if he cannot attend the court sessions, and be held accountable for gross misdeeds (not the petty corruption cases now in the attorney general's file). As soon as the court convicts Soeharto, President Yudhoyono could issue an amnesty.

Indonesians are a forgiving lot, and while we may have some lapses of memories from time to time, the Soeharto legacy is too powerful to forget.