Erick Tanjung, Fakhri Fuadi – The Civil Society Movement to Bring Suharto to Justice (GEMAS) held a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Culture offices in Central Jakarta on Thursday November 6 at which they firmly rejected the discourse of awarding the title of national hero to the second President of the Republic of Indonesia, Suharto.
Based on observations at the location, the demonstrators wore all black clothing and gathered on the sidewalk carrying various posters and banners reading "Suharto is not a hero".
In speeches, the action participants related the dark reflections of Suharto's New Order administration, including testimonies from families of victims of human rights violations. The crowd also shouted protest chants, one of which read "Suharto is not a hero, Fadli Zon is a Zonk minister!"
Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Coordinator Dimas Bagus Arya stated that the peaceful action was aimed at protesting the government which seemed to be facilitating the awarding of the title for Suharto.
"The title of hero is too political. The government does not have empathy for the victims of violence and human rights violations from the Suharto regime", said Arya.
Apart from giving speeches, the crowd also displayed a number of books documenting Suharto's alleged crimes during his 32 years in power, with the aim of educating the members of the public who were passing by.
"We hope that the public can know about the violations that Suharto committed and how corrupt his administration was at that time", he said.
Furthermore, Arya admitted that he did not expect to be met by the Culture Minister Fadli Zon. According to Arya, attempts at similar hearings with the government, including with the Social Affairs Minister Gus Ipul (Saifullah Yusuf) have never produced any results.
"We don't expect there to be a meeting because we know that Fadli Zon himself has said that Suharto has already meet the requirements to be given the title of hero", he concluded.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Demo di Depan Kantor Kemendikbud: Gemas Bongkar 'Dosa' Soeharto, Fadli Zon Jadi Sasaran".]