Jakarta – What kind of role model could Suharto possibly offer if the man who ruled Indonesia for 32 years were to be honored as a national hero? During his reign, he centralized power in his own hands and used it to silence, suppress, and even kill those who disagreed with him.

He gave special privileges to those close to him. He used this patronage to maintain the three main pillars of his power: the military, the bureaucracy and the Golkar (Golongan Karya, or Functional Group). It is true that he created stability in order to bring about development. But the stability of the New Order was drenched with the blood of many citizens.

The Reformasi movement failed to properly position Suharto. Although he was named a corruption suspect, the administration after the New Order never put "The Smiling General" on trial. And the charges were dropped in 2006, two years before he died, on the grounds that he was physically unfit to undergo the legal process.

Since then, groups of his supporters, who have never lost their privileges through all the subsequent changes of regime, have tried to restore Suharto's "good name."

In 2009, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) removed his name from the decree that had read: "The endeavor to eradicate corruption, collusion and nepotism must be carried out resolutely against everybody, state officials, former state officials, their families and cronies as well as private businesspeople and tycoons, including former president Suharto."

Now, in the administration of President Prabowo Subianto, who was once Suharto's son-in-law, efforts to award him the status of national hero have intensified. Aside from mobilizing support from public figures and mass organizations, there have also been efforts to spread propaganda in the mass media. The honor of national heroes, which according to Law No. 20/2009 on Titles, Medals and Honors, is given for reasons including "setting an example," has changed into a political struggle.

These political considerations were apparent from the list of people also proposed for national hero status: former president Abdurrahman Wahid and Marsinah, a labor activist who was killed by the security forces in 1993. These two people, with all their strengths and weaknesses, were juxtaposed with Suharto in order to increase support for the proposal of his national hero status.

But examples are not only set by those named as national heroes. We can look again at the example of independence proclaimer Mohammad Hatta. He left behind a request to his family for a simple burial after his death. He was buried at Tanah Kusir after he died on March 14, 1980. He was subsequently named a national hero, but only 32 years after his death.

Bung Hatta believed that burials in the heroes' cemetery are always contaminated by political interests. He believed that many people did not deserve to be buried in this special place. He did not want to betray the people by compromising with criminals in his own nation.

– Read the Complete Story in Tempo English Magazine

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/2065045/the-political-campaign-for-national-hero-status-for-suhart