The Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation (YLBHI) said the late former president, Suharto, does not deserve the title of "national hero" because a number of legal cases against him have not been resolved.

"In our view, it will be far from right or proper for the government to reward Suharto with the predicate of 'national hero'," YLBHI chairman Patra M Zen said here on Monday [28 January].

He was commenting on Golkar Party legislator Priyo Budi Santoso's proposal to grant the title of national hero to the former strongman.

"Like Sukarno (Indonesia's first president), Suharto is one of the nation's best sons, who deserve the title of national hero because of their services to the state and nation," Santoso said.

Zen said Suharto was one of the parties in the country who had to account for a number of cases of violence and human right violations that had happened during his regime.

The cases that had so far remained unsettled included the slaying of people accused of involvement in the abortive communist coup in October 1965, the mysterious extra-judicial shooting of people suspected of being hardened criminals, the Tanjung Priok affair, the people who became victims of the 'Military Operations Zone' in Aceh and human right violations in Papua.

Apart from the cases of violence, Suharto was also suspected of having committed corruption and misappropriation of state funds, he said.

Therefore, YLBHI called on the public not to be rash in showing their respect or appreciation for Suharto, Zen said.