Amid reports that the health of Indonesia's former dictator Suharto is deteriorating, the Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh has announced that the corruption case against him has been closed while State Secretary Yusril Izha Mahendra has said that the government is likely to halt any further prosecution and will work to rehabilitate his name.

If this man who a leading Indonesian historian has described as 'one of the biggest criminals and tyrants of the twentieth century' is allowed to die without facing charges for his many crimes against humanity, Indonesia's reputation will bear a grave stain for failing to confront and bring to justice this man who for more than three decades exercised an iron grip on the country.

After taking virtual control of Indonesia is late 1965, Suharto presided over a campaign of killings and unlawful arrests that lasted from October 1965 until March 1966, leaving at least half a million dead and tens of thousands of people in detention. With the exception of a handful of those taken into custody who were tried in special military courts, not a single one of these detainees was ever formally charged. There were no official arrest warrants against the hundreds of thousands who were thrown into jail, many of whom were held for fourteen years without charge or trial. Ever since these victims were released, succeeding Indonesian governments have ignored calls for these millions of people, including the families of those held without warrant, to be rehabilitated. As a result, many still suffer discriminatory treatment as 'former G30S prisoners', held without charge or trial. As we recently mourned the passing of Indonesia's foremost writer, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, we were once more reminded of this great man's tribulations – fourteen years in detention, most of them spent in appalling conditions on Buru Island, the loss of huge collections of documents when his home was attacked in October 1965 and he was struck so severely on the head that his hearing was irreparably damaged. He also chronicled the deaths of so many of his co-detainees, bereft of the basic medical facilities and living in atrocious circumstances for so many years. We were once again reminded of the massive violations of human rights that went unchallenged for more than three decades.

Yet after Indonesia threw off the burden of this merciless and lawless regime and moved gradually towards democracy, nothing has been done to bring those responsible, in particular Suharto, to justice. On the contrary, he has been allowed to live in comfort, with his family, enjoying the luxury of the wealth they accumulated during the dark years of his dictatorship.

Corruption in high places was certainly a hallmark of the Suharto regime but over and above this was its relentless suppression of basic human rights, and the pursuit of many sections of the community, in particular Muslims who were victims of the Tanjung Priok incident in 1984 when scores of people were killed. Suharto was also responsible for the invasion of East Timor in December 1975 and the occupation lasting twenty-four years, during which massacres and killings took place, resulting in the deaths of 183,000 people. Mass killings and widespread repression also occurred throughout the Suharto era in West Papua. It was Suharto who granted permission in 1967 to the US mining giant, Freeport, to exploit the fabulous wealth of that territory, with total disregard for the interests of the people of West Papua.

To even contemplate rehabilitation for the man who plunged Indonesia into such a grim period of aggression, repression and oppression is quite incomprehensible.

We call on the present government of Indonesia to recognise the crimes committed by Suharto and to proceed without delay to bring formal charges against him for crimes against humanity.

We fully support calls by many organisations and individuals in Indonesia for Suharto to be put on trial.

TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign 111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath, Croydon CR7 8HW, UK.

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