Rights activists and families of victims of human rights abuses committed by former Indonesian president Suharto's regime have slammed a proposed move by the country's parliament to confer the title of national hero on the former authoritarian leader.
Maria Catharina Sumarsih, whose son, Bernardus Realino Norma Irawan, was killed in a government crackdown in 1998, said the proposal by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) "must be rejected."
"Suharto's cronies are always looking" for ways to confer the title of national hero on the military ruler," she said. "This is not the first attempt," she told UCA News.
Sumarsih has been holding Thursday rallies in front of the State Palace in the capital Jakarta on Thursdays since 2007.
Her protest is inspired by Argentina's Mothers of Plaza de Mayo who led a peaceful resistance movement to find their "disappeared" children during the Dirty War (1976-1983) in the South American nation.
The proposal to confer the " Hero" title was mooted by MPR chairman Bambang Soesatyo, a member of the Golkar Party, founded by Suharto.
"It would not be an exaggeration if former president Suharto is considered by the next government for the title of national hero," he said on Sept. 28 during a meeting with Suharto's family.
The title had been repeatedly proposed for Suharto and president-elect Prabowo Subianto, Suharto's son-in-law who takes over as president this month, supports the move.
However, there was an MPR decree that provided a stumbling block. It states that national heroes should not have criminal records.
On Sept. 23, the MPR removed Suharto's name from MPR Decree Number XI/MPR/1998, that stated "efforts to eradicate corruption, collusion, and nepotism must be carried out firmly against anyone, whether state officials, former state officials, their families, and cronies or private parties/conglomerates including former president Suharto while still paying attention to the principle of presumption of innocence and human rights."
The MPR reasoned that the removal was possible because Suharto, who led the Southeast Asian nation for 32 years till 1998, had died in 2008.
The military leader, who came to power in 1966 after anti-communist purges, is accused of killing an estimated 500,000 to 1 million people and in 1998 sanctioned violent suppression of a student protest.
"The title should be given to individuals who have made great contributions to the nation. During Suharto's leadership, the state was transformed into a killing machine," observed Dimas Bagus Arya from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence on Sept. 30.
After stepping down, Suharto was named a defendant in an alleged corruption case involving seven of his social foundations.
A probe by the attorney-general's office found graft deals worth US$419 million. However, the attorney office dropped the trial in 2006, citing the ill-health of Suharto.
Arya said awarding the title would not only harm the victims, but could also create a bad precedent.
Amnesty International executive director Usman Hamid said the MPR's move was "a step backward" in the reform journey.
"If this is taken, it clearly has the potential to betray the 1998 reforms, which sought to guarantee the upholding of political freedom and social justice," he said.
Source: https://www.ucanews.com/news/activists-slam-bid-to-name-indonesias-suharto-a-national-hero/10657