The Civil Society Movement to Bring Suharto to Justice (Gemas) held a Kamisan (Thursday) action in front of the State Palace building in Central Jakarta on Thursday April 17.
Maria Catarina Sumarsih, who is one of the pioneers of the Kamisan actions, said that the action was held to reject a proposal that the 2nd president of Indonesia, Suharto, to be named a national hero.
According to Sumarsih, Suharto must be held responsible for a number of past problems and tragedies that occurred in Indonesia.
"The student movement that occurred in 1998 was held as a form of a demand for President Suharto to step down from his position. He was a corrupt and authoritarian president", said Sumarsih.
Sumarsih is a mother who has had to experience the bitterness and sadness of 1998. The Semanggi I tragedy in 1998 took the life of her beloved son, Benardinus Realino Norma Irawan, who is better known as Wawan, a student at Atma Jaya University in Jakarta.
In addition to this, Sumarsih also revealed that Suharto must also be held accountable for the mass killings in 1965.
"Former president Jokowi [Joko Widodo] has stated that the 1965 incident was a gross human rights violation. From the results of the investigation conducted by Komnas HAM [National Human Rights Commission], the perpetrator was Pak [Mr] Harto", she said.
Sumarsih also emphasised that Gemas had visited a number of institutions and related parties so that Suharto would not be given the title of national hero.
"We've visited the Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos), in the future we will also visit other institutions that deal with hero titles", she concluded.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Gemas Tolak Dengan Aksi Damai Usulan Soeharto yang Dinobatkan Sebagai Pahlawan Nasional".]
