Indonesia yesterday named its authoritarian former President Suharto a national hero, despite complaints about the corruption, nepotism, and mass human rights abuses that stained his three decades in power.
The title was conferred on the ex-leader during a ceremony in Jakarta yesterday that was presided over by President Prabowo Subianto, Suharto’s ex-son-in-law, Reuters reported.
“A prominent figure from Central Java province, a hero of the struggle for independence, General Suharto stood out since the independence era,” an announcer said as Prabowo handed the award to Suharto’s daughter, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, and son, Bambang Trihatmodjo.
Every November 10, the title of National Hero (pahlawan nasional) is awarded to Indonesians considered to have made “extraordinary contributions to the nation and the state,” as State Secretary Minister Prasetyo Hadi said during yesterday’s ceremony. Suharto was among 10 people who were chosen this year to receive the national hero title, which also included former President Abdurrahman Wahid, former Justice Minister Mochtar Kusumaatmadja, and the labor activist Marsinah, who was kidnapped and murdered for her activism during Suharto’s rule in 1993.
Suharto, who took power in 1966 following an anti-communist purge that killed at least 500,000 (and possibly up to 1 million) people in 1965-66, ruled Indonesia until he was forced from power amid mass protests and deadly riots in 1998. He died in 2006 at the age of 86.
The former president’s name was among the 49 put forward last month for potential inclusion in the roster of national heroes. His inclusion was hotly contested by activists and human rights groups, who pointed to the major human rights violations that took place under his rule, to say nothing of the nepotism and corruption. In 2004, the anti-graft organization Transparency International claimed that Suharto and his family embezzled as much as $35 billion while in power.
Last week, activists held protests outside the presidential palace against the possibility of his inclusion. In an open letter published last week, around 500 activists, academics, and civil society figures argued that his recognition would be “a betrayal of the victims and democratic values” and “a dangerous distortion of history for the younger generation.”
Yesterday’s ceremony marks the culmination of a long campaign by Suharto’s family and supporters to restore his reputation. This came under a dark cloud during the period of reformasi after 1998, which in many respects defined itself against the military-dominated authoritarianism of Suharto’s New Order regime.
It is unsurprising that this rehabilitation should take place under Prabowo, a former special forces commander who rose to a prominent position in the army during the New Order. Prabowo had a close relationship with Suharto; in 1983, he married his daughter Siti Hediati Hariyadi, from whom he separated after Suharto’s fall in 1998. The same year, Prabowo was dismissed from the military, amid accusations he was involved in the abduction of pro-democracy activists, claims that he has denied.
In the years since, however, Prabowo has praised his former father-in-law and often stressed the advantages of a less “unruly” political system. Since taking office in October 2024, he has allowed the military to play a more active role in governance and authorized the rewriting of Indonesian school history textbooks, which critics claim gloss over the less savory aspects of the New Order period.
Usman Hamid of Amnesty International Indonesia yesterday told The Guardian that Suharto’s elevation to the Indonesian national pantheon was “utterly absurd,” given his record of human rights abuses, including the army’s murder of at least half a million actual and suspected communists during 1965-66, a campaign of bloodshed that inaugurated the New Order.
“How could the man most responsible for one of history’s greatest genocides, when he seized power, be made a national hero?” he said. “It is a blatant whitewashing of historical crimes. This decision ignores the aspirations of civil society, including victims of human rights violations who continue to demand justice.”
