By DPA
Jakarta : Former Indonesian president Suharto, who presided over the modernization of his country for 32 years but whose rule was marred by corruption, nepotism and widespread human-rights abuses, died Sunday in Jakarta following multiple organ failure. He was 86.
The quiet leader, dubbed the “father of development” by his supporters, formulated the policies that brought orderly development to the vast Indonesian archipelago and its 210 million people and tapped its vast resources of oil, gas, minerals and timber.
But Suharto’s hold on power was tight, and he tolerated no challenges to his rule, dealing harshly with critics and moving rapidly to cut off political challenges.
Suharto’s military-dominated Golkar party, his political tool for 32 years, played the central role in Indonesian politics during his 1966-1998 rule.
Critics said the centralization of political and economic power in the hands of Suharto and his family resulted in staggering corruption and nepotism, which fuelled anger among tens of millions of poor residents during the latter days of his rule.
Ultimately, Suharto was forced from power in May 1998 amid civil unrest and mass demonstrations as the country plunged into its worst economic crisis in decades.
However, attempts to bring him to trial were thwarted by his defence attorneys and the courts, and his family’s influence behind the scenes.
The Supreme Court in early 2001 upheld a lower court ruling that Suharto was medically unfit to stand trial for corruption and could not be tried until he recovered. The ruling all but ended hopes for justice among countless Indonesians who suffered from his oppressive policies.
Suharto was born on June 8, 1921, and was reared in his home farming village of Kemusu, central Java, in an atmosphere dominated by the belief and imagination fostered by Javanese mysticism.
As he reached adulthood, Suharto embarked on a swift rise to the top of the Indonesian armed forces, which became his ticket to power and fortune.
In 1944, he was a company commander, but his career took off after the declaration of the Independent Republic of Indonesia on Aug 17, 1945, when he led a successful resistance campaign in central Java against retreating Dutch colonial forces.
By mid-1966, Suharto firmly held power having stripped president Sukarno of his powers and, two years later, won his first of six five-year terms as president.
In 1975, Indonesian army troops seized East Timor, half of an island territory, after it was abandoned by its Portuguese colonizers. Suharto declared it Indonesia’s 27th province, an action never recognized by the United Nations.
Harsh suppression of pro-independence forces in East Timor, as well as separatist movements in the restive provinces of Irian Jaya and Aceh, made Suharto a prime target of human-rights organizations.
German anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International recently ranked Suharto the world’s most corrupt politician over the past two decades, claiming his family amassed a fortune of up to $35 billion in ill-gotten gains.
For many, Suharto’s son, notorious billionaire playboy Hutomo “Tommy” Mandala Putra, epitomized the corruption and lawlessness of the country’s elite during his father’s 32-year reign.
Days before Suharto’s death, the new government’s attorney general’s office renewed efforts to bring Suharto to trial despite persistent claims by the former president’s doctors and lawyers that Suharto remained unfit for the courtroom.