In Reply to: Sutarto's resume posted by cliff on Saturday, 6. November 2004 at 10:47 Bali Time:
Let's observe the progress of Indonesian political events from the days Suharto in office until now 6 years after he left, we should know that he wasn't as bad as we thought .
Yes there were corruption, nepotism, cronyism charged against him, but there were also unprecedent economic growth and emergence of Indonesia as a regional power during his tenure.
I remind you that he was the one who sought to restore Indonesian's relations with the Western world, which had deteriorated under Sukarno, He had hunted Abubakar Baasyir, the mastermind of Bali-bombing, at that time Basyir escaped to Malaysia and Suharto sentenced him in absentia. Umder his rule there were no religious conflict in Central Sulawesi, no insurgency in West Papua New Guinea, no Aceh freedom movement, no uneasy feeling of Westerners who made a trlp to Salatiga, Central Java like the ones posting their experience below.
We shouln't blame Suharto alone in East Timor atrocities. He was adopting strong anti Communist stance from the beginning, so reasonable if he ordered an invasion of the region when Portugal ended its colonial rule of East Timor in 1975 and a leftist revolutionary party named Fretilin eventually took power. If there were brutal killing of people and a few Roman Catholic clergymen, it was another matter, it was the consequences of war. You couldn't judge a whole task force by witnessing a misdeed of a few members of it. Please regard Abu Ghraib scandal in Iraq, would you say that all US servicemen and servicewomen in Iraq should take the responsibility?
An additional credit to Suharto family is that his daughter Mrs. Tutut's Citra Lamtoro Gung Company reportedly has paid off all its huge debt to international creditors, so did his crony Mr Liem Soei Liong's companies.
As I said 'our men', it has the connotation that I shared the common sense, the conventional wisdom with the current US and Australian government in the context of War against Terrorism. It should not be implied in all issues. I was not on the same side with Mr. John Howard in Strait of Timor issue, I didn't agree with then US president Lyndon B Johnson in the way he supported Suharto in supressing 1965 communist party which lead to thousands of people were massacred.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not Suharto loyalist, nor I'm communist. I'm just an ordinary people who think those who killed thousands of innocents in NYC WTC,who beheaded foreingers in Iraq, who blasted Sari club were driven by evil impulses.
May I'm challenging your suggestions to Indo Military reform ?
1. Questioning every alleged person over war-crime in East Timor is not a priority nowadays. More important thing is the national security which is directly related to our tranquility in Bali resort and beaches.Everybodies don't want bombing part 4 (after Sari, Marriot and Australian embassy bombs )
2. This is almost impossible. There are so many symbiose mutualism in our life.
3. Don't be military-phobia, The incidence of gun abusing among military personeels were in lowest point in Indonesia,
4. This is trully a feasible plan.