Soeharto

Suharto (June 8, 1921 – January 27, 2008) was an Indonesian military leader, and the second President of Indonesia, holding the office from 1967 to 1998.

Suharto was born in a small village near Yogyakarta, during the era of Dutch colonial control. His ethnic Javanese peasant parents divorced not long after his birth, and he was passed around several foster parents for much of his childhood. After a brief and an unsuccessful stint as a village bank clerk, Suharto joined the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army in 1940. During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, Suharto served in various Japanese-organised Indonesian security forces. He joined the newly formed Indonesian army during Indonesia's independence struggle where he rose through the ranks to command a garrison against Dutch offensives at the Republican capital of Yogyakarta. Following Indonesian independence, Suharto rose to the rank of Major General.

An attempted coup on 30 September 1965 was countered by Suharto-led troops. The Suharto-led army blamed the attempt on the Indonesian Communist Party, which was subsequently outlawed, and led a violent anti-communist purge that killed between 500,000 and one million people. Suharto wrested power from the weakened incumbent, and founding president, Sukarno, and was inaugurated President in March 1968. Popular, military and political support in Indonesia for Suharto's 32-year presidency eroded dramatically following the devastating effect of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis on Indonesia's economy and standard of living. Suharto was forced to resign from the presidency in May 1998 following mass demonstrations and violence.

The legacy of Suharto's 32-year presidency is debated both in Indonesia and abroad. Under his "New Order" administration, Suharto constructed a strong militarist centralised government. An ability to maintain stability over a sprawling and diverse Indonesia, and an avowedly anti-Communist stance, won him the economic and diplomatic support of the West during the Cold War. For most of his presidency, Indonesia experienced significant economic growth and industrialization, dramatically improving health, education and living standards. The "New Order" placed restrictions on the country's ethnic Chinese. Against the backdrop of Cold War international relations, Suharto's "New Order" invasion of East Timor, and the subsequent 24-year occupation, resulted in an estimated minimum of 102,800 deaths. By the 1990s, the New Order's authoritarianism and widespread corruption—estimates of Suharto family embezzlement range from US$1.5 billion and US$35 billion—was a source of much discontent, and was referred as one of the world's most corrupt leaders. Suharto lived his post-presidential years in near seclusion, and attempts to try him on charges of corruption and genocide failed due to his poor health.

Like many Javanese, Suharto had only one name. In religious contexts, he is sometimes called “Haji” or “el-Haj Mohammed Suharto”, but this Islamic title is not part of his formal name or generally used. The spelling "Suharto" has been official in Indonesia since 1947 but the older spelling Soeharto is still frequently used.

Now, he was dead. Good Bye My President. The Smiling General.