By Ananda Teresia
JAKARTA (Reuters) -About 100 activists gathered on Thursday in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta to demand that the government cancel a plan to grant late authoritarian leader Suharto the status of national hero, reflecting wider concerns about historical revisionism.
The country’s social ministry and culture ministry have proposed Suharto along with 48 other candidates to President Prabowo Subianto to receive the title. The honour is bestowed every year on November 10 to those considered to have made a significant contribution to the country.
Indonesia faced decades of repressive rule under Suharto’s military-backed “New Order”. He held power for 32 years before being forced to step down during an economic crisis, mass protests and deadly riots in Jakarta in 1998.
CONCERNS ABOUT ‘WHITEWASHING’ HISTORY
Prabowo, elected last year, has openly praised Suharto, his former father-in-law, while increasingly turning to the military to pursue his agenda.
On Thursday, protesters arguing that Suharto’s alleged human rights violations and corruption made him unworthy of the title, rallied near the presidential palace.
Some carried posters saying: “Stop the Whitewashing of the General of Butchery,” and “Thousands Died But The Country Chose to Forget.”
Among those present were rights groups Amnesty International Indonesia and the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS).
“If he deserves to be a hero, why did he step down and why did the New Order have to be overthrown?” said Virdinda La Ode Ahmad from KontraS.
Several rights groups also sent a letter to the Culture Minister Fadli Zon and Prabowo to oppose the plan.
Fadli said proposing national hero candidates included public input.
“We have conducted research,” he told reporters. “All of them have met the requirements.”
Historians and activists say at least 500,000 people were killed from late 1965 after then-general Suharto took power following an abortive communist coup. Suharto was a key military commander at the time.
Former president Abdurrahman Wahid and labour activist Marsinah, who was kidnapped and murdered under Suharto, are also among this year’s candidates to become national heroes.
(Reporting by Ananda Teresia; Editing by Aidan Lewis)
