Jakarta – The Civil Society Coalition which is part of the Try Suharto Civil Society Movement (Gemas) has sent a letter containing a petition to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) requesting that the New Order (Orba) ruler former president Suharto not be awarded the title of national hero.
The letter was submitted through the MPR Secretariat at the parliamentary complex on Monday afternoon November 4. In addition, Gemas also asked the MPR to review the removal of Suharto's name from MPR Decree (TAP MPR) Number 11/1998 on the organisation of governance that is free from corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN).
"We submitted the letter today and it was received by the MPR general secretariat, as of this date we provided the letter of appeal and conveyed our aspirations that the state should not award Suharto with the title of national hero", said coalition representative Dimas Bagus Arya from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).
According to Arya, the plan to award the title of national hero to Suharto must be examined according to the Law on Titles, Medals and Honors. According to Arya, under the law it stipulates that awarding the title of national hero must fulfil a number of conditions.
Among these conditions, it must be based primarily on a sense of justice, humanity and unity. In essence, he said, the title can only be awarded to people who have integrity.
"We looked at a number of facts and also the crimes committed by Suharto during his 32-year-old leadership ranging from gross human rights violations and also state violence, the practice of corruption, collusion and nepotism, the crime of murder and crimes against the environment and agrarian [reform]", he said.
Mass defiance
Meanwhile the chairperson of the Institute for the Study of the 1965-1966 Massacres (YPKP 65), Bedjo Untung, warned of the potential for mass defiance if Suharto is awarded the title of national hero.
According to Untung, giving the title of national hero to Suharto is the same as returning the country to the New Order era. According to Untung, this would hurt the victims of the crimes that Suharto committed.
"I worry that there will be a general defiance and an apathetic attitude from the ordinary people and I hereby say that if this happens, it means that the state is illegitimate meaning we will not recognise it", he said.
Untung believes that the beginning of Indonesia's downfall began when Suharto took over the leadership of the country. Moreover his authority has been proven to have been realised by intentionally disposing of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno.
"It has now been revealed, also in what form, which we refer to as new evidence because the CIA, American and British, and German, Australian secret agents have already admitted that the '65 tragedy was manipulated in the context of overthrowing Bung Karno [Sukarno]", he said.
In September, MPR Speaker Bambang Soesatyo (Bamsoet) claimed that the leadership of the MPR was pushing for the 2nd President of the Republic of Indonesia Suharto and 4th President Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) to be awarded the title of national hero.
This was conveyed by Soesatyo after the final plenary session of the MPR's 2019-2024 term at the parliamentary complex in Jakarta on Wednesday September 25.
According to Soesatyo, there should be no Indonesian citizen, especially a national leader, who should undergo legal penalties without a fair legal process. It is fitting for the MPR, said Soesatyo, to knit together national unity.
"There's no need for historical revenge to be bequeathed to the children of the nation who never knew about and were not involved in the various dark events in the past", said the Golkar Party politician.
Suharto and his New Order regime, which lasted for more than three decades, were brought down by the political reform movement in 1998. Suharto, who had been in power 32 years, resigned from his position on May 21, 1998.
After the New Order collapsed, the MPR issued a decree asserting that the organisation of the state shall be clean and free of KKN.
In March 2000, the prosecutor's office named Suharto a suspect for alleged corruption committed through seven foundations. Then in August the case was taken to trial but efforts to bring the New Order's ruler to court consistently failed.
Finally in 2006, the 6th President of the Republic of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), declared the government would not continue the case against Suharto due to his poor health.
On May 11, 2006 the prosecutor's office also issued an order to terminate the prosecution of the case against Suharto because the case had been legally closed due to Suharto's congenital health problems and it was not possible for the prosecution to be continued. (thr/kid)
- Rights activists slam proposal to name former president Suharto national hero. Tempo – October 1, 2024
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Removal of Suharto's name from MPR decree setback for reformasi: Amnesty. CNN Indonesia – September 26, 2024
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Koalisi Sipil Surati MPR Minta Soeharto Tak Jadi Pahlawan Nasional".]
