Karikatur Soeharto

Suharto: Twilight of the God

By JASON TEDJASUKMANA/JAKARTA
he modern-day visitor to the thousand-year-old temple complex of Prambanan in central Java may be surprised by sculptures with a familiar face or, rather, a familiar smile. And suddenly comes the revelation: the slightly bemused yet severely serene expression on every face of the antique gods of Java, the heart of what has become Indonesia, was perfected by a 20th century general who would rule the country for more than 30 years, as if he himself were a god with the right to parcel out prosperity and peace, a heaven-sent arbiter of life and death. Even after he was forced to relinquish power, Suharto dwelt among his countrymen as if invulnerable to mortal retribution, as if Indonesia could not act against the man who was once its infallible, singular autocrat. When he died on Sunday, January 27 in Jakarta, at the age of 86, the islands of Indonesia shuddered.

The years since a popular uprising forced him to resign the presidency have not brought Indonesia quiet. The predominantly Muslim country's Islamic extremists, long repressed by Suharto's military, came roaring to life, some finding common cause with al-Qaeda, fomenting attacks not once but twice on Indonesia's paradaisical enclave of Bali — the last refuge of the islands' old Hindu gods.

Stability had been Suharto's gift to his country. He had come to power at the head of a junta of generals in 1965, overthrowing the country's flamboyant and charismatic first president, Sukarno, whose friendship with Beijing and predeliction for Communists in the government had brought the country to the brink of economic collapse and civil war. Ensconced in power, Suharto proceeded to purge the country of Communism and anyone suspected of Communist sympathy. No one knows how many died. One estimate has it at 500,000 — among them many Indonesians of Chinese descent. The Communist Party was outlawed and Indonesian citizens banned from having Chinese names.

The result was a cowed and pacified country ruled by a new President —Suharto — with a practiced beatific smile, anti-Communist credentials which a Cold War–obsessed America would reward, a secular philosophy that tamped down religious extremism, and a military that no one could question. He brought an end to the hyperinflation of Sukarno's reign and eradicated the country's widespread hunger by establishing Indonesian self-sufficiency in rice. Stability attracted billions of dollars in foreign investment. "Suharto built Indonesia and we have him to thank for modern buildings, ports and harbors," says Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, a former mines and energy minister under Suharto. "He has made mistakes, and there were consequences for many, but he used that centralistic form of government to build things as fast as possible."

But the new Indonesia also made it possible for a small group of Suharto family members and cronies to earn billions of dollars from monopolies on everything from cars to cloves. Foundations set set up during the New Order regime, as his reign was known, are alleged by anti-corruption watchdogs to have amassed billions of dollars. The Suharto family's wealth was estimated by TIME in 1999 at $15 billion. Transparency International, a group monitoring government corruption around the world, reported his personal wealth at closer to $35 billion.

Meanwhile, the regime brooked no opposition. Behind the President's smile were very sharp teeth. Student activists would vanish, dissident writers and journalists jailed. Thousands were killed in Aceh, where a separatist rebellion simmered for 29 years; and more than 200,000 are believed to have perished in East Timor after Indonesia invaded the tiny Portuguese enclave in 1975. (East Timor has since established its independence from Indonesia.)

But economic cataclysm struck in 1997 and, in spite of all of Suharto's soldiers and all of his money, Indonesia was inundated by the Asian financial crisis. Currency speculation had led to the collapse of Thailand's currency, which started a chain of events that swamped Indonesia's rupiah. The devaluation sent company profits dramatically downward; Jakarta's stock market crashed. Food prices spiked upwards, leading to rioting in the streets and the death of perhaps hundreds of people clamoring for food in the capital. The country's divisions re-emerged: Muslims vs. non-Muslims; Malay-Indonesians vs. Chinese-Indonesians; secular Muslims vs. orthodox Muslims. The ghosts of the old Indonesia that Suharto thought he had exorcised had returned to haunt the country.

Instability now led the repressed opposition to gain an audience not just with the besieged middle class but among the military and Suharto's own ruling Golkar party as well. He exacerbated the crisis by hubristically reminding the country of his mandate, running for reelection in March 1998 — unopposed, as was his practice. The country would have none of it. Once street demonstrations and riots started, Suharto could not stay in power without causing bloody chaos. He resigned in May 1998.

After the overthrow, Suharto spent most of his time living at home with his family in an upscale neighborhood in central Jakarta even as allegations of ill-gotten wealth percolated through the press. Citing declining health and diminished mental capacity, Suharto managed to stay out of court despite a 1998 legislative decree ordering an investigation in all corruption, collusion and nepotism charges involving Suharto. He was constantly in and out of hospitals after suffering strokes and undergoing kidney dialysis.

When it became clear that he would not survive the latest hospitalization, the new rulers of the archipelago came to pay homage and to pray for his recovery. The Golkar party, which Suharto founded and retains the largest bloc in parliament, called for all pending graft charges —pending for a decade now — be dropped. As the ex-strongman lay dying, the health minister instructed all hospitals to provide their best equipment to Pertamina hospital, where Suharto was being treated. But after three weeks, he died of multiple organ failure. He will be buried next to his wife in the central Java city of Solo. It is not clear what will happen to the civil suit brought against him by Indonesia's attorney general for allegedly siphoning off more than $1.4 billion from one of the many foundations set up during his rule.
An era of democracy has now replaced Suharto's despotic rule. And yet, he leaves behind an edifice as sturdy as that millennium-old temple in Prambanan. The way things are done in Indonesia is the system of patronage he set up and it remains firmly in place to this day.
With Howard Chua-Eoan/New York

SOLO, Indonesia (CNN) -- Former Indonesian dictator Suharto, a U.S. Cold War ally whose military regime killed hundreds of thousands of left-wing opponents, was buried Monday at a state funeral with full military honors as tens of thousands mourned. The coffin of Suharto, draped with an Indonesian flag, is carried to an ambulance Throngs of Indonesians lined the streets to watch a motorcade carry his body to the family mausoleum. Many sobbed and called out the name of the man whose three-decade rule, though harsh, brought stability and economic growth to Indonesia.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono led the ceremony, which began just before noon at the mausoleum near Suharto's hometown of Solo, some 250 miles east of the capital. After a reading of Suharto's military accomplishments, a shot was fired in his honor and Yudhoyono offered a salute.

"We offer his body to the motherland," Yudhoyono said. "His service is an example to us."

Islamic prayers were said and as his body was lowered, mourners tossed flower petals into his grave. A military band played a dirge.

Suharto died Sunday of multiple organ failure after more than three weeks on life support at a Jakarta hospital. He was 86.

Yudhoyono had already declared a week of national mourning and called on Indonesians "to pay their last respects to one of Indonesia's best sons."

"He was a great man," said Sumartini, 65, who came from a nearby village with her four children to watch the funeral procession. "His death touched us deeply."

"I cannot understand why I have to forgive Suharto because he never admitted his mistakes," said Putu Oka Sukanta, who spent a decade in prison because of his left-wing sympathies.

Suharto was finally toppled by mass street protests in 1998 at the peak of the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis.

His departure from office opened the way for democracy in this predominantly Muslim nation of 235 million people, and he withdrew from public life, rarely venturing from his comfortable Jakarta villa.

Suharto ruled with a totalitarian dominance that saw soldiers stationed in every village, instilling a deep fear of authority across this Southeast Asian archipelago that stretches across more than 3,000 miles.

Since being forced from power, Suharto had been in and out of hospitals after strokes caused brain damage and impaired his speech. Poor health -- and continuing corruption, critics charge -- kept him from court after he was chased from office.

The bulk of killings occurred in 1965-1966 when alleged communists were rounded up and slain during his rise to power. Estimates for the death toll range from a government figure of 78,000 to 1 million cited by U.S. historians Barbara Harff and Ted Robert Gurr, who have published books on Indonesia's history.

During Indonesia's 1975-1999 occupation of East Timor, up to 183,000 people died due to killings, disappearances, hunger and illness, according to an East Timorese commission sanctioned by the U.N. Similar abuses left more than 100,000 dead in West Papua, according a local human rights group. Another 15,000 died during a 29-year separatist rebellion in Aceh province.

Suharto's five successors as head of state all vowed to end the graft that took root under his regime, yet it remains endemic at all levels of Indonesian society.

With the court system paralyzed by corruption, the country has not confronted its bloody past. Rather than put on trial those accused of mass murder and multibillion-dollar theft, some members of the political elite consistently called for charges against Suharto to be dropped on humanitarian grounds.

Some noted Suharto also oversaw decades of economic expansion that made Indonesia the envy of the developing world. Today, nearly a quarter of Indonesians live in poverty, and many long for the Suharto era's stability, when fuel and rice were affordable.

But critics say Suharto squandered Indonesia's vast natural resources of oil, timber and gold, siphoning the nation's wealth to benefit his cronies, foreign corporations and family like a mafia don.

Jeffrey Winters, associate professor of political economy at Northwestern University, said the graft effectively robbed "Indonesia of some of the most golden decades, and its best opportunity to move from a poor to a middle class country."

"When Indonesia does finally go back and redo history, (its people) will realize that Suharto is responsible for some of the worst crimes against humanity in the 20th century," Winters said.

Those who profited from Suharto's rule made sure he was never portrayed in a harsh light at home, Winters said, so even though he was an "iron-fisted, brutal, cold-blooded dictator," he was able to stay in his native country.

Like many Indonesians, Suharto used only one name. He was born on June 8, 1921, to a family of rice farmers in the village of Godean in the dominant Indonesian province of Central Java.

When Indonesia gained independence from the Dutch in 1949, Suharto quickly rose through the ranks of the military to become a staff officer.

His career nearly foundered in the late 1950s, when the army's then-commander, Gen. Abdul Haris Nasution, accused him of corruption in awarding army contracts.

Absolute power came in September 1965 when the army's six top generals were murdered under mysterious circumstances, and their bodies dumped in an abandoned well in an apparent coup attempt against Sukarno, Indonesia's founding father who helped win independence from the Dutch. Suharto, next in line for command, quickly asserted authority over the armed forces.

What followed was a nationwide purge of suspected leftists, a campaign that stood as the region's bloodiest event since World War II until the Khmer Rouge established its gruesome regime in Cambodia a decade later.

Over the next year, Suharto eased out Sukarno, who died under house arrest in 1970. The legislature rubber-stamped Suharto's presidency and he was re-elected unopposed six times.

During the Cold War, Suharto was considered a reliable friend of Washington, which did not oppose his violent occupation of Papua in 1969 and the bloody 1974 invasion of East Timor. The latter, a former Portuguese colony, became Asia's youngest country with a U.N.-sponsored plebiscite in 1999.

President Bush sent his regrets over Suharto's death. "President Bush expresses his condolences to the people of Indonesia on the loss of their former president," said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House's National Security Council.

Even Suharto's critics agree his hard-line policies kept a lid on Indonesia's extremists and held together the ethnically diverse and geographically vast nation. He jailed without trial hundreds of suspected Islamic militants, some of whom later carried out deadly suicide bombings with the al-Qaida-linked terror network Jemaah Islamiyah after the attacks on the U.S. of Sept. 11, 2001.

Meanwhile, the ruling clique that formed around Suharto -- nicknamed the "Berkeley mafia" after the U.S. school they attended, the University of California, Berkeley -- transformed Indonesia's economy and attracted billions of dollars in foreign investment.

By the late 1980s, Suharto was describing himself as Indonesia's "father of development," taking credit for slowly reducing the number of abjectly poor and modernizing parts of the nation.

But the government also became notorious for unfettered nepotism, and Indonesia was regularly ranked as one of the world's most corrupt nations as Suharto's inner circle amassed fabulous wealth. The World Bank estimates 20 percent to 30 percent of Indonesia's development budget was embezzled during his rule.

Even today, Suharto's children and aging associates have considerable sway over the country's business, politics and courts. Efforts to recover the money have been fruitless.

Suharto's youngest son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, was released from prison in 2006 after serving a third of a 15-year sentence for ordering the assassination of a Supreme Court judge. Another son, Bambang Trihatmodjo, joined the Forbes list of wealthiest Indonesians in 2007, with $200 million from his stake in the conglomerate Mediacom.

State prosecutors accused Suharto of embezzling about $600 million via a complex web of foundations under his control, but he never saw the inside of a courtroom. In September 2000, judges ruled he was too ill to stand trial, though many people believed the decision stemmed from the lingering influence of the former dictator and his family.

In 2007, Suharto won a $106 million defamation lawsuit against Time magazine for accusing the family of acquiring $15 billion in stolen state funds.

The former dictator told the news magazine Gatra in a rare interview in November 2007 that he would donate the bulk of any legal windfall to the needy, while he dismissed corruption accusations as "empty talk."

Suharto's wife of 49 years, Indonesian royal Siti Hartinah, died in 1996. The couple had three sons and three daughters

Emha Ainun Nadjib Akan Bahas Sumpah Soeharto

Surabaya (ANTARA News) - Kelompok pengajian budaya BangbangWetan yang dimotori budayawan Emha Ainun Nadjib (Cak Nun) di Balai Pemuda Surabaya akan membahas masalah sumpah dari HM Soeharto, Presiden RI periode 1966-1998, yang diucapkan pada 1999.

"Ini mungkin belum banyak yang tahu tentang empat sumpah Soeharto setelah satu tahun lengser dari kursi presiden. Isi sumpah itu hanya Cak Nun yang tahu," kata salah seorang panitia pengajian BangbangWetan, Farid Syamlan, di Surabaya, Selasa.

Hubungan Masyarakat Dewan Kesenian Surabaya (Humas DKS) itu mengemukakan, sebagaimana pengajian-pengajian sebelumnya, Cak Nun sebetulnya lebih banyak menjadi pemandu dengan menghadirkan sejumlah tokoh lain untuk berbicara.

Kali ini, Cak Nun juga akan didampingi oleh Kepala Kepolisian Wilayah Kota Besar (Kapolwiltabes) Surabaya, Komisaris Besar Polisi (Kombespol) Anang Iskandar, Dekan Fakultas Sastra Universitas Airlangga (Unair), Aribowo, yang juga mantan Ketua DKS dan Dewan Kesenian Jawa Timur (DKJT), serta salah seorang tokoh Republik Mimpi, Sukowidodo.

"Cuma untuk Kapolwiltabes kemungkinan besar hanya akan berbicara mengenai keamanan di Surabaya atau yang sesuai dengan bidang tugas polisi," katanya.

Ia menjelaskan, pengajian yang dimulai Cak Nun sejak setahun lalu itu selalu menanggapi berbagai persoalan terbaru yang dihadapi bangsa ini, termasuk bagaimana umat Islam menghadapi Lebaran, Idul Fitri dan Idul Adha.

Beberapa bulan lalu, kelompok pengajian yang digelar sebulan sekali itu membahas masalah luapan lumpur dari proyek PT Lapindo Brantas Inc, dan terakhir kali lalu mereka mengadakan kegiatan di Sidoarjo untuk menghibur warga korban lumpur.

Pengajian BangbangWetan digagas Cak Nun secara rutin setiap pertengahan bulan Hijriyah di Balai Pemuda Surabaya. Meskipun namanya pengajian, namun yang diundang menjadi pembicara tidak hanya dari kalangan muslim.

Pembiacara non-muslim pernah menjadi pembicara pada pengajian itu, antara lain sosiolog dari Unair, Prof DR Hotman M. Siahaan. (*)

(Foto: Emha Ainun Nadjib)

Gempa Yogya

Gempa 5,2 SR Kejutkan Warga Yogyakarta

Yogyakarta (ANTARA News) - Gempa bumi tektonik berkekuatan 5,2 Skala Richter (SR) yang terjadi Minggu malam pukul 19.48 WIB mengejutkan sebagian warga Provinsi Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta (DIY) dan sekitarnya.

Menurut salah seorang staf Stasiun Geofisika Badan Meteorologi dan Geofisika (BMG) Yogyakarta, Bambang, pusat gempa di dalam laut pada kedalaman 20 km di posisi 8.75 Lintang Selatan (LS) - 109.05 Bujur Timur (BT), atau sekitar 115 km arah tenggara Kota Wonosari, Kabupaten Gunungkidul,DIY.

Saat terjadi guncangan gempa yang berlangsung beberapa detik, banyak warga Yogyakarta yang berlari ke luar rumah, karena takut terjadi sesuatu yang tidak diinginkan.

Gempa ini juga dirasakan sebagian warga Kabupaten Klaten (Jawa Tengah).(*)

Presiden Minta Rakyat Berterima Kasih pada Soeharto


Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono meminta seluruh bangsa Indonesia agar berjiwa besar dan tulus memberikan ucapan terima kasih dan penghargaan yang tinggi atas darma bakti almarhum Jenderal Purnawirawan HM Mohammad Soeharto kepada bangsa dan negara ini.

"Kita telah kehilangan putra terbaik bangsa, seorang pejuang setia, prajurit sejati dan seorang negarawan terhormat," kata Presiden Yudhoyono, saat memberikan kata sambutan pada upacara kenegaraan pemakaman mantan Presiden Soeharto, di Astana Giribangun, Karanganyar, Jawa Tengah, Senin.

"Dengan jujur dan hati yang bersih, kita patut mengakui begitu banyak jasa yang almarhum berikan kepada bangsa dan negara," kata Presiden.

Menurut Kepala Negara, masyarakat juga menyadari bahwa sebagai manusia biasa dan juga layaknya seorang pemimpin, maka almarhum tentulah tidak luput dari kekhilafan dan kekurangan.

"Tidak ada manusia umat hamba Allah yang sempurna di dunia ini. Pada kesempatan yang penting ini, saya juga mengajak seluruh rakyat Indonesia untuk mendoakan almarhum semoga ditempatkan di sisi Tuhan Yang Maha Kuasa, Allah SWT, sesuai dengan perjuangan, pengorbanan dan amal ibadahnya," kata Kepala Negara.

Sepanjang hayatnya, kata Presiden, almarhum Soeharto telah menapaki perjalan panjang di dalam karier militer, politik dan pemerintahan.

Ketika terjadi revolusi fisik tahun 1945-1949, almarhum berjuang gigih mengusir penjajah untuk menegakkan dan mempertahankan kedaulatan bangsa dan negara yang masih berusia muda.

Sejarah juga mencatat sejumlah perjuangannya yang monumental, yaitu ketika Soeharto bersama pejuang lainnya melakukan Serangan Umum 1 Maret tahun 1949 dan berhasil menduduki Kota Yogyakarta.

"Peristiwa penting itu memberikan bobot dan kekuatan tersendiri pada diplomasi kita yan berujung pada kedaulatan Republik Indonesia," katanya.

Sedangkan pasca revolusi tahun 1962, ketika bangsa Indonesia memperjuangkan pembebasan Irian Barat, almarhum kembali memenuhi panggilan negara untuk memenuhi tugas mulia sebagai Panglima Komando Mandala," kata Presiden.

Pada tahun 1965 ketika bangsa Indonesia kembali diuji oleh peristiwa pemberontakan G-30S/PKI, almarhum kembali tampil mengemban tugas untuk menyelamatkan keutuhan negara, keutuhan bangsa serta melaksanakan pemulihan keamanan dan ketertiban.

Presiden Yudhoyono yang saat membacakan pidato mengenakan jas dan berpeci hitam, mengatakan almarhum sejak dilantik sebagai Presiden RI pada 27 Maret 1968, gigih memimpin pembangunan nasional yang tertumpu pada Trilogi Pembangungan, yakni Stabilitas, Pertumbuhan dan Pemerataan.

"Sejumlah prestasi dan keberhasilan telah dicapai pemerintahan yang dipimpin almarhum pada hakekatnya mengantarkan bangsa Indonesia setapak demi setapak menjadi bangsa yang makin maju dan makin sejahtera," katanya. (*)