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JAKARTA: Lauded by some as a pro-market Cold Warrior who brought
stability to Indonesia, shunned by others as a corrupt autocrat,
Suharto—who died Sunday aged 86—dominated his country’s
politics for 32 years.
Key events in his life and career:
June 8, 1921: Born to a farming family on the
main Indonesian island of Java, then part of the Netherlands Indies.
1940 to 1943: Joins the Royal Netherlands Indies
Army, rising to the rank of sergeant. Following Japanese occupation
in 1942, he joins Japanese-backed independence militia Pembela.
1945 to 1949: Joins newly formed national army
following declaration of independence. Distinguishes himself in the
fight against returning Dutch colonialists until sovereignty is
finally transferred in December 1949.
1963: Becomes commander of the Army’s
Strategic Reserve (Kostrad) in Jakarta.
March 11, 1966: Forces Sukarno to sign an
executive order granting him power to restore order in the wake of a
September 1965 coup attempt blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party
(PKI). The order, which effectively transfers power to Suharto,
gives legitimacy to a crackdown on suspected PKI members that kills
more than half a million.
March 12, 1967: Suharto is appointed acting
president by the provisional people’s consultative assembly, which
had rejected Sukarno’s accountability speech.
August 8, 1967: Along with foreign leaders,
helps establish the new regional grouping the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
March 21, 1968: Suharto is confirmed as
president by the People’s Consultative Assembly, the nation’s
legislature. He is elected unopposed again in 1973, 1978, 1983,
1988, 1993 and 1998.
December 7, 1975: Begins large-scale military
operations in newly independent neighbor East Timor, eventually
leading to its annexation as an Indonesian province. Around 200,000
Timorese are either killed in the invasion or die from preventable
causes during the occupation.
1985: Indonesia becomes self-sufficient in rice,
its staple food, after decades of being one of the world’s largest
importers.
1990: Establishes the Association of Indonesian
Muslim Intellectuals in an apparent move to cultivate orthodox
Muslim support to counter fading enthusiasm for his rule among
senior military officials concerned with the questionable business
practices of his children.
May 21, 1998: Suharto steps down as president
amid protests and riots throughout the country after the 1997 East
Asian economic crisis plunges millions into poverty. He retreats to
his home in Jakarta’s upscale Menteng neighborhood.
May 12, 2006: Indonesia’s democratically
elected government finally drops a criminal corruption case against
the former president, citing his ill health.
January 4, 2008: Suharto is admitted to hospital
and shortly afterward suffers multiple organ failure. Over three
weeks he surprises doctors by his resilience as his condition wavers
between life and death.
January 27, 2008: Suharto dies at age 86.
“Father has returned to God,” his eldest daughter, Siti
Hariyanti Rukmana, told reporters. “We ask that if he had any
faults, please forgive them . . . may he be absolved of all his
mistakes.”
-- AFP
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