and still attracts lots of attention!!
I guess at this point, unless you have no TV, radio nor pc connected to internet, it was hard to miss the news that Soehart a.k.a Suharto passed away yesterday because of multiple organ failure. The eldest daughter of Suharto broke the news to the media.
Ever since that moment it is hard to read Kompas or Detik.com without a glimpse on who’s coming to Cendana to pay their respects. Even an unimportant figures, such as Mayangsari (the used to be not-so-populer actress-turned second wife of one of Suharto’s son).
It is also hard not to notice the roaring praises in every newspapers from many different organizations about the good deeds of Suharto. I couldn’t find any media which did not praise Suharto. Or at the least a newspaper how tried to put forward a balanced picture of the state man and dictator. At Gatra, there’s even a spot for columnist Ismail H.M. Saleh to praise him as the constitutional president and a true democrat. And…actually send a challenge to the current president to exonerate Suharto’s name. Sometimes I think that the media’s attention on Suharto managed to shift it from the real news; about the real situation in Indonesia (still couldn’t found the story of “tahu wanted” at national news).
Skimming the news, so far I only found two articles about Suharto’s death from a different perspective. One of these is an interview with Eros Djarot at www.detik.com. Eros, a famous artist turned politician, mentioned that it is indeed the media which needs to tone down its attention on Suharto. Saying they depict Suharto as a true hero, without mentioning anything about his failures as leader. Further, Eros mentioned that it is important to further following up on Suharto’s civil suit for the sake of future.
Kita tidak bermaksud mengagung-agungkan masa lalu.
Namun masa lalu janganlah dibiarkan berlalu begitu saja.
Sebab masa lalu mengandung sejumlah pelajaran dan kearifan sebagai bekal
Untuk menatap masa depan yang lebih cerah.
Rough translation: We shouldn’t praise the past too much. But one should not let go of the past too easily. Because past contains many lessons and wisdom for future. To face a better future. source: Gatra.com
Will Indonesia be able to have a better future with Suharto on trial? Would Indonesia be able to learn anything from Suharto’s episode of 32 years as a leader? How we will remember Suharto?
Amen!
A follow up:
Reading this article sends shivers down your spine – primarily because of the unbelievable cynicism and guild of “us”, that is the western governments, who always preach human rights but gladly cooperated with “our model dictator” if it was profitable. Provided Pilger, the author of the article, is right.
I have not really paid much attention to how the international media coveres the death of Suharto, but found the treatment by my newspaper rather balanced. For the Dutch speaking among you:
Volkskrant
Note that at the end of the video (at least, currently) one of the related videos is about Bin Laden’s son who wants to be an angel of peace. One wonders how far the parallels go.
Yeah, most of the media here has gone crazy from the power that’s got handed to them on 1998. It’s really sad.
Btw; I like Pilger & Palast and own quite several of their books. We need more of these investigative journalists.
The Guardian is an interesting newspaper – I heard that it’s not a for-profit company. Is that true ?
This may be the solution to the current problem we’re facing here with the media in Indonesia.
Quote: “Even an unimportant figures, such as Mayangsari (the used to be not-so-populer actress-”..hahahaha, baca ini gue kebayang bangeut tampang lo mboooonnnn…!!!