Time to Move Ahead

The thought of former Indonesian dictator Suharto lying in a hospital bed, gravely ill after undergoing three surgeries, is undoubtedly comforting to some of his longtime victims. Suharto was a brutal tyrant as well as a reformer--and his 32-year rule (from 1966 to 1998) was marked not just by economic progress but by corruption on an epic scale, much of it thought to have been carried out by his children and various cronies. Yet aside from a few student groups that marched through the streets of Jakarta last week, burning the former president in effigy, public emotions have been subdued. Most Indonesians are treating Suharto's possible death with a belated shrug and don't seem troubled by the government's apparent decision last week to end its criminal investigation of the erstwhile dictator on the grounds that he is too ill to stand trial. "Aside from a few student and activist groups, there's no outpouring of interest in holding him accountable [for his crimes]," says Douglas Ramage of the Washington, D.C. -based Asia Foundation. "It's more like, 'Let the man go.' "

The question is whether Indonesia itself can move on if Suharto's alleged crimes are not confronted. Last Sunday was the eight-year anniversary of the former strongman's resignation, and in that time, Indonesia has made remarkable political progress. Current President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, like Suharto a former military man, is seemingly unencumbered by conflicts of interest. He's working hard to revamp the civil service and, more generally, to foster responsible governance. In particular, he's made progress combating the endemic corruption that accompanied the country's economic rise during the 1980s: the governor of Aceh province was convicted of graft last year and sentenced to a 10-year prison term, and Indonesia's former Religious Affairs minister was convicted early this year of a similar crime and sentenced to five years. (On May 10, an appeals court increased the sentence to seven years. He remains free pending the appeals process.)

Yudhoyono seems to think it's better to repudiate Suharto indirectly--through policy changes--than directly through a highly charged court trial. But critics wonder if any anticorruption drive that does not expose the former dictator's reputed crimes--and the fortune he is alleged to have amassed--can be legitimate.

Part of the problem is that time has softened memories of Suharto. True, the former general, now 84, jailed critics during his reign, suppressed the media, and launched bloody crackdowns in separatist-minded provinces. His children and cronies were handed business empires and are thought to have bilked the resource-rich state for billions of dollars. (The Suharto family has always denied embezzling money from the state, and none of the children have ever been convicted of corruption.) But Suharto had seized power at a time when Indonesia was internationally isolated, traumatized by the murders of hundreds of thousands of communist sympathizers, and on the verge of economic collapse. He restored order, built schools and roads, invited foreign investment, and over the course of his reign lifted tens of millions of Indonesians out of poverty. "Pluses and minuses," presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng says of Suharto's legacy, in a typical assessment--not the kind of judgment to inspire vindictiveness in a people traditionally deferential to authority. "Most people think he's basically a good man [who] surrendered to the greed of his children," adds Azyumardi Azra, rector of the State Islamic University in Jakarta and a social commentator.

Apathy is not the only thing that has kept the former dictator out of court. Suharto's defenders have used both legal maneuvers and violence to stall various attempts at prosecution. Eight years ago, the country's highest legislative body, the People's Consultative Assembly, ordered an investigation into the Suharto family's wealth, while a human-rights commission began probing atrocities during the so-called New Order period. Neither succeeded. Suharto refused to appear in court, citing health reasons. A series of mysterious bomb explosions occurred on dates Suharto was due to appear, further diminishing the government's will to put the ex-tyrant in the dock. Quiet negotiations between a team of government officials--including Yudhoyono when he was a cabinet minister--and the Suhartos to return some of the billions they are alleged to have amassed, in return for a pardon, collapsed. What's more, a $680 million corruption case involving several Suharto-controlled foundations also fell apart after a team of doctors testified that he had suffered brain damage from a series of strokes and was unfit to stand trial.

Ironically, Suharto's latest health woes--and the chance that he might die before being held accountable--have given new life to the debate over prosecuting him. Earlier this month, Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh announced that he was considering reopening the dormant corruption case against Suharto. But after the former leader was hospitalized on May 4, Saleh inexplicably said he was dropping all charges. Human-rights activists and support groups for Suharto-era political prisoners howled in protest. "If this momentum is wasted, the chain of impunity will continue and efforts to respect, protect, and promote human rights in Indonesia will not bear fruit," wrote Agung Yudhawiranata, a researcher at the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy, in an opinion piece in The Jakarta Post.