Splashed across most Asian papers today, the headlines would read 'Former Indonesian President Suharto dies at age 86'.
I wouldn't say that I read all the different versions of the articles related to this once great army chief of Indonesa. We all know that anything related to the death of someone this popular could take up hundreds of pages of write-ups on him and his life story.
We can see that the population in Indonesia is currently divided with some rather mixed feelings about the passing of one of Indonesia's best son. Without a doubt, Pak Suharto indeed brought stability, wealth and friendship to the Asian region. During his days as president, Indonesia was booming prosperous.
Remember all the rich Indonesians that would visit our malls in Singapore dressed in batik clothes, chaufferred limosines and most importantly, snapping up property. The ladies with very neat and puffed up hairdos, a trend of Indonesian tai-tais are hardly to be found nowadays.
After the collapse of the Suharto era amid the 1997 financial crisis in this region, various presidents took over. From Habibie to Abdurrahman Wahid and during those times, Indonesia faced a big question mark on whether a country with so much natural resources and potential growth could be revived and brought back to the days of prospering business.
As the country of Indonesia falls into mourning, the question on whether to forgive the once successful yet brutal dictator of Indonesia comes about. An ailing, dying man who has allegedly swallowed billions of dollars belonging to the people of Indonesia has not yet been forgiven despite his passing.
Its kind of sad to know when one is not able to be forgiven even as death lurks closely especially for someone like Suharto who has somewhat contributed to the Indonesian people and played a significant in the growth of South East Asia.
Forgive I say ...
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