Thread: The Economist: Suharto is "at heart benign"

This article was written during the US backed Indonesian occupation and genocide campaign in East Timor. According to the Economist, one the worst mass murderers of the 20th century is not a dictator and is "at heart benign."

The Economist: The extended family; Two fathers: Sukarno and Suharto

August 15, 1987

The president of Indonesia today is a Javanese general called Suharto. He will remain so -- health permitting -- until at least the early 1990s, since there is no other candidate for next year's presidential election. It is easy, therefore, for western liberals to assume he is a dictator in the manner of South America's generals. The assumption is logical, but it does scant justice to General Suharto. His Indonesian critics concede he is at heart benign.

East Timor truth commission finds U.S. "political and military support were fundamental to the Indonesian invasion and occupation"

Report estimates 100-180,000 Timorese killed or starved 1975-1999

"Responsibility" chapter published on Web by National Security Archive

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 176

Edited by Brad Simpson
Director, Indonesia-East Timor Documentation Project
609/751-8206
bsimpson@princeton.edu

Posted - January 24, 2006

East Timorese youth being tortured and killed by a member of the Indonesian military (Released by Mr. Jose Ramos-Horta in 1996)

A Quarter Century of U.S. Support for Occupation

East Timor Truth Commission report uses declassified U.S. documents to call for reparations from U.S. for its support of Indonesian invasion and occupation of East Timor from 1975 until U.N. sponsored vote in 1999

National Security Archive provides more than 1,000 documents to East Timor Truth Commission after Bush Administration refuses cooperation

Recently Declassified British Documents Reveal U.K. Support for Indonesian Invasion and Occupation of East Timor. 1975-1976

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 174

Edited by Brad Simpson
Director, Indonesia-East Timor Documentation Project
For more information contact:
Brad Simpson - 609/751-8206
bsimpson@princeton.edu

Posted - November 28, 2005

The Gaurdian: US trained butchers of Timor

Exclusive: Washington trained death squads in secret while Britain has spent £1m helping Indonesian army

Indonesian military forces linked to the carnage in East Timor were trained in the United States under a covert programme sponsored by the Clinton Administration which continued until last year.

U.S. Military aid to Indonesia during the Clinton years is about $150 million

For more on this history see, Economists with Guns: Authoritarian Development and U.S.-Indonesian Relations, 1960-1968 by Bradley Simpson, Director, Indonesia-East Timor Documentation Project at the National Security Archive

On the motive for Washington and Media support for Suharto, see:

The New York Times: Why Suharto Is In and Castro Is Out

Administration officials said the treatment of Mr. Castro, Mr. Jiang and Mr. Suharto was driven by very different litmus tests, a potent mix of power politics and emerging markets.

Mr. Suharto, who is sitting on the ultimate emerging market: some 13,000 islands, a population of 193 million and an economy growing at more than 7 percent a year. The country remains wildly corrupt and Mr. Suharto's family controls leading businesses that competitors in Jakarta would be unwise to challenge. But Mr. Suharto, unlike the Chinese, has been savvy in keeping Washington happy. He has deregulated the economy, opened Indonesia to foreign investors and kept the Japanese, Indonesia's largest supplier of foreign aid, from grabbing more than a quarter of the market for goods imported into the country.

So Mr. Clinton made the requisite complaints about Indonesia's repressive tactics in East Timor, where anti-Government protests continue, and moved right on to business, getting Mr. Suharto's support for market-opening progress during the annual Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Osaka in mid-November.

"He's our kind of guy," a senior Administration official who deals often on Asian policy, said the other day.

No, he is not moderate.