Accountability for Suharto’s Crimes Must Not
Die With Him
January 27, 2008 - Indonesia's former dictator General Suharto has
died in bed and not in jail, escaping justice for his numerous
crimes in East Timor and throughout the Indonesian archipelago. One
of the worst mass murderers of the 20th century, his death tolls
still shock:
500,000 to one million Indonesians
in the aftermath of his 1965 seizure of power;
100,000 in West Papua;
100,000 to 200,000 in East Timor,
which his troops illegally invaded in 1975;
tens of thousands more in Aceh and
elsewhere.
Suharto also accumulated an appalling
legacy of corruption - 15 to 35 billion dollars stolen by
him and his family.
Suharto has avoided personal accountability for
the genocide, destruction and corruption he inflicted upon those he
presumed to rule. However, the generals, cronies and family members
who carried out his orders via massacre, torture and theft must not
get off so easily. Those who murdered and pillaged on behalf of
Suharto and his "New Order" regime must be brought to justice.
We cannot forget that the United States government consistently
supported Suharto and his regime. As the corpses piled up after his
coup and darkness descended on Indonesia, his cheerleaders in the
U.S. welcomed the "gleam of light in Asia." In the pursuit of
realpolitik, U.S. administration after administration, fully
aware of his many crimes, provided military assistance and hardware,
training and equipping Suharto's killers. The Indonesian dictator
sought and received U.S. approval before he launched his invasion of
East Timor; ninety percent of the weapons used in this illegal
attack came from the U.S.
In the face of broad domestic opposition as his
“economic miracle” had collapsed in 1998, he finally stepped down.
But only after U.S. Secretary of State Albright hinted he should do
so, even as the White House insisted she was not calling on the
U.S.-backed dictator to “step down now.”
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Persistent advocacy by concerned activists from
East Timor, Indonesia, the U.S. and within Congress finally
succeeded in curtailing U.S. military assistance to the Suharto
regime in the 1990s. After Suharto was ousted, East Timor broke free
and the Indonesian military lost some perks. Since then, military
reform efforts have stalled or been reversed. Suharto's favored
military still maintains substantial power. Its higher-ranking
officers, and powerful retired military, like President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono, built their careers during his reign. The military
continues to violate human rights with impunity and in West Papua
and some areas operates by Suharto-era rules, restricting outside
access and employing terror in service of its commercial interests.
Limited investigations dealing with Suharto-era
crimes have added some information to the public record, but the few
trials that have occurred have largely failed, as defendants have
lied, intimidated or bribed their way to acquittals, crushing the
hopes of the victims and their families for justice or even an
apology.
To overcome Suharto's legacy and to uphold
basic international human rights and legal principles, those who
executed, aided and abetted, and benefited from his criminal orders
must be held accountable. The U.S. must undergo a complete
accounting for its role in backing the dictator. As a start, the
U.S. government must support for an international tribunal to
prosecute human rights and war crimes committed in East Timor from
1975 to 1999, and Washington should condition military assistance to
Indonesia "on progress towards full democratisation, the
subordination of the military to the rule of law and civilian
government, and strict adherence with international human rights" as
recommended by East Timor's Commission for Reception, Truth and
Reconciliation.
