Ishvar – According to Law Number 20/2009 on Titles, Services and Honours, the requirements to be named a national hero include having moral integrity and setting an exemplary example, a service to the nation and state and/or being loyal to and not betraying the nation and state.

Nurdin Halid, an elite member of the Golkar Party, said that he proposed naming former president Suharto a national hero 10 years ago. He said that Suharto has had many achievements, that no human is perfect and it is unfair if his achievements were forgotten by just focusing on his mistakes. Likewise, Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemesos) Community Empowerment Director Radik Karsadiguna said that in the public proposed to give the title of national hero to Suharto dates back to 2010.

This year, Central Java Governor Ahmad Lutfi also proposed the same thing, which was then passed on to the study team by the Social Affairs Ministry. Although, afterwards he acknowledged that there was public opposition to this. Furthermore, Indonesian National Youth Committee (KNPI) Central Leadership Board Chairperson Haris Pertama said that we had to forget the 1998 affair that happened almost 27 years ago.

These arguments are not only a justification for murder, corruption, an authoritarian regime, militarisation, the destruction of democracy and a systematic deception that has been carried out for years, but also proves how idiotic the thinking of the regime's supporters are.

Let us just look at how Suharto rose to power. Legally and formally, Suharto rose to power through the 1966 March Eleven Order (Supersemar). To this day the Supersemar's physical existence has remained unclear. There are four versions of the Supersemar, all of which are counterfeit. The four versions are held by the Indonesian Army (TNI AD) Information Centre (Puspen), the National Academy and two versions belong to the State Secretariat (Setneg). The one held by Suharto for 32 years is the TNI AD Puspen version.

Armed with the Supersemar, Suharto unilaterally dissolved the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) as well as all organisations affiliated or underneath it and declared the PKI banned organisation. In addition to this, Suharto also prohibited all political parties and mass organisations from receiving new members from the PKI and all members of the PKI or its mass organisations had to report to the authorities. Suharto also tried to arrest the PKI ministers in the cabinet of then President Sukarno.

Many times in meetings and speeches Sukarno stated that Suharto violated his authority and the Supersemar was just a technical order to maintain security. Likewise Sukarno asked the second deputy prime minister Dr. J. Leimena (Waperdam II) to write an instruction to Suharto. The March 13, 1966 order contained a reminder that the Supersemar was technical and simply an order to secure the people and the government including the authority of the president. Suharto was prohibited from acting beyond his mandate and responsibilities and was asked to report to the president in person. But Suharto refused.

On June 21, 1996, the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly (MPRS) promulgated the Supersemar as MPRS Decree Number IX/MPRS/1966. So the Supersemar became legally binding on all parties and Sukarno could not revoke it. The next day, President Sukarno read his final speech at a MPRS session which became known as the Nawaksara speech. The speech was later amended to with the Complementary Nawaksara on January 10, 1967.

When he inaugurated the Ampera Cabinet on July 28, 1966, Sukarno again stated that the Supersemar was not a surrender of power. "I repeat again, it is not a transfer of authority", he declared. Although formally the new cabinet was under Sukarno's authority, the de facto leader of the cabinet was Suharto's first deputy prime minister. Among the cabinet members were people Sukarno trusted but who turned on him and supported Suharto, such as Adam Malik, Frans Seda and Sutami. On August 17, 1966, Sukarno's speech titled "Never Abandon History" again confirmed his position.

It should also not to be forgotten that the Supersemar affair took place over the half year that the alliance of US imperialism, the military, right-wing students and the bourgeoisie classes organised the 1965 Catastrophe (Malapetaka 1965). The mass slaughter of as many as 1 million communists and left-wing sympathisers in Aceh, Central Java, East Java and Bali had only recently reached its climax. A massacre launched by the military with reactionary civilian militias that was supported by US imperialism and covered by right-wing student actions in urban areas. Meanwhile Sukarno's own power had already been severely eroded.

For more than half a century the 1965 Catastrophe was covered up by the military and the authorities. While continuing to cover it up, the military and the rulers denied their involvement in the despicable affair. They said that the massacres were a horizontal conflict resulting from the spontaneous anger of the people. The military even tried to stop the people's rage. The people's rage was a result of the PKI which was atheist, anti-God and had damaged social harmony.

But internal TNI AD documents illustrate that the 1965 massacres and all his brutality were directed nationally under the control of the Army leader at that time, Major General Suharto. Through the Highest Operations Command (KOTI) in Sumatra, the Army Paratroops Command Regiment (RPKAD) in Java and Bali along with the Operational Command for the Restoration of Security and Order (Kopkamtib) in Kalimantan and Eastern Indonesia, an operation to crush the left down to the roots was launched. The military's territorial command structure allowed Suharto to coordinate the massacre nationally. The concept of a territorial war become a blueprint for a massacre. The operation was launched under the framework of the Dwikora cabinet behind the mask of the Crush Malaysia (Ganyang Malaysia) campaign.

Suharto's principle crime was destroying and reversing the nation's development process since the 1920s with de-mobilisation, de-organisation, de-politicisation and de-ideologicalisation through the 1965 Catastrophe.

Indonesia's history was reversed and rewritten. Brain washing was launched through an educational curriculum that described the military as a sacred force to protect the nation and state. While the military, the Golkar Party and Suharto's cronies became the foundation of his power. The remaining political parties were forced to merge and be simplified into the United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), the floating mass concept was applied where workers and the ordinary people were prohibited from politics while the political parties were prohibited from being active in the mass base.

The New Order military regime's slaughter and vile repression of the workers and the people became the norm. We can see this in the mysterious shootings or Petrus campaign (thousands killed, 1982-1985), the Seroja operation in East Timor, which was a full military invasion followed by a 24-year occupation (180,000 people killed, 1974-1999), the Santa Cruz massacre which occurred without warning when East Timorese residents came to mourn the killing of a local youth (around 300 killed, 1991), the Tanjung Priok massacre when a peaceful action demanded the release of residents who were detained by the military (18 killed, 1984), the Talangsari massacre (27 killed, 1989), the Kudatuli attempt to silence the political parties that began to resist (5 dead and 149 injured, hundreds arrested, 1996), the Semanggi I and II student shootings (28 killed, 1998-1999), the 1998 riots in Jakarta (thousands death, raped and burned alive), the abduction of pro-democracy activists (23 abducted, 13 still missing, 1997-1998), the murder of labour activists Marsinah (1993), and there may be many cases that cannot be mentioned because they only consume one's sanity.

Suharto also reopened the door to the grip of US, European and Japanese imperialism in Indonesia. The nickname "the father of development" that was pinned on Suharto was also just hypocrisy – the development carried out involved billions of dollars of foreign debt. While around 30-50 percent of this debt was embezzled by Suharto and his cronies.

The food self-sufficiency that was always idealised by his bootlickers appeared to run smoothing from the outside but was actually rotten inside. This was proven in the 1970s and 1980s when Indonesia's foreign debt increased dramatically. This is because the expansion of planting land was minimal and many farmers were reluctant to follow the Social Guidance (BIMAS) program because of the high cost of fertilizers and pesticides, while the selling price of rice remained low so farmers lost the incentive to plant.

In 1972, production plummeted to under 11 million tons due to severe drought and corruption in the military-controlled State Logistics Agency (Bulog), where the funds to purchase rice were misused. The distribution of rice collapsed, prices soared to more than 100 Rupiah per kilogram, and only rich villages could afford to eat rice every day. The government then switched its agricultural policy: the land previously used for rice was diverted to sugar cane, driven by foreign trading companies. As compensation, Indonesia imported 1.2 million tons of rice through a special US loan, making food supply dependant on the capitalist countries.

During his time in power, Suharto was supported by two major investors, Sudono Salim (Liem Sioe Liong) and Bob Hasan (The Kian Seng). Salim is the founder of the Salim Group conglomerate, with ownership in companies such as Indofood, Bank Central Asia (BCA) and Indocement. The Salim Group was given access to extraordinary privileges from high-level patronage relations, such as a monopoly over the export and import of vital commodities and a monopoly over the flour industry, as well as national wheat in western Indonesia which was 80% of production.

The banking access provided was also significant. BCA grew rapidly with very loose supervision during the New Order era and large amounts of credit was permitted to flow to Salim Group affiliated companies, even though in principle this violated banking prudence. BCA was a favourite bank of the regime because it was used for the placement for government funds because it facilitated operations. This has been supported by investigations by academic George Aditjondro and Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) that showed a strong suspicion that Golkar accounts and Cendana family-owned foundations are in BCA.

On the other hand, Bob Hasan was given the full power to manage the export of all processed wood products, including controlling who could export and where, to remove competitors and impose prices as well as trading routes. The Indonesian Wood Panel Association (Apkindo) created the largest plywood cartel in the world in the 1980-1990s, with Indonesia controlling more than 70% of the global plywood market. But the benefits only flowed to a handful of people.

This disease continued with more than 100 foundations that were established while Suharto was in power. With attractive and nationalist names such as the Supersemar Foundation, Dharmais, Dakab, it turns out they have shares in more than 140 companies controlled by PT Nusamba, PT Kiani Lestari and other small companies. Private companies and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were forced to donate to these foundations, in large quantities and without transparency, and those that did not contribute meant that their businesses were frozen and their licenses revoked.

Reports by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) and the Attorney General's Office (AGO) found that the Supersemar Foundation channelled funds to businesses belonging to Suharto's children. All of Suharto's children received splashes of capital, ranging from the construction sector, agriculture, trade, telecommunications, property, hospitality, banking, energy, chemistry, transportation and plantations.

Moreover, Suharo's eldest daughter Siti Hardijanti Rukmana, better known as Tutut, received toll road construction projects in a number of Southeast Asian countries. And not to forget Suharto's third son Bambang Trihatmodjo, with energy development projects (water and electricity) from the Philippines to China. Of course, all of this was supported by the power of the Armed Forces (ABRI as it was known then) who were dominant and took root by establish their own businesses and logistics protection.

So what kind of moral and exemplary integrity can we find in Suharto? What was Suharto's service to the nation and state? Was Suharto loyal and not betray the nation and state? Or by giving the title of national hero to Suharto does it mean that workers and the ordinary Indonesian people should emulate Suharto? That being an imperialist lap-dog can make us stay in power for decades. That corruption, collusion and nepotism are the way for us to become rich. That the massacres, rapes, torture, forced disappearances and other repression are noble moral manifestations.

It cannot be forgotten that the struggle to reject Suharto to being named a national hero is related to the struggle for democracy, anti-militarism and anti-imperialism. This is the one important thing that cannot be relinquished by the movement. Suharto does not deserve to be a national hero and was only able to stay stay in power for more than three decades because of the support from imperialism and militarism.

Please download the poster Suharto is not a hero: https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1VA6a3gt8GquM_RQruNkeeHzaM1_dSCM3

– Ishvar is a member of the socialist youth group Resistance.

[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Suharto bukan Pahlawan Nasional".]

Source: https://www.arahjuang.com/2025/05/15/soeharto-bukan-pahlawan-nasional