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Protesters demand Suharto be tried
About 30 Indonesian protesters performed a traditional mask dance in the royal city of Solo yesterday to demand former president Suharto, who is critically ill in a Jakarta hospital, be brought to justice.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:43 January 16, 2008
Solo: About 30 Indonesian protesters performed a traditional mask dance in the royal city of Solo yesterday to demand former president Suharto, who is critically ill in a Jakarta hospital, be brought to justice.
"Bring Suharto to court before he dies," read one of the posters carried by the protesters as they played traditional Javanese drums and gongs outside the prosecutors' office in Solo.
"How come there's no justice for my son and other people who were missing or killed by the Suharto regime?" asked Budiati Al Fatah, who said her activist son, Gilang Nugroho, was murdered in the last days of Suharto's rule.
Ever since Suharto was admitted to hospital on January 4, Indonesians have debated the former president's legacy and whether to continue legal proceedings against him for graft.
Accountable
Some see him as a corrupt dictator who should be held accountable for his actions, including the death of up to half a million Indonesians in an anti-communist purge in 1965-66.
But others remember his era more nostalgically and say he should be appreciated for steering Indonesia's development and for turning it into one of Asia's tiger economies.
"Suharto must be tried for his alleged crimes, even in absentia. He is responsible for alleged genocide against some 500,000 Indonesians between 1965 and 1975," wrote Ludi from West Kalimantan in an SMS to the Jakarta Post.
Suharto's more than 30 years of authoritarian rule are associated with widespread human rights violations, especially in the troubled provinces of Papua and Aceh.
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