Nonviolent Conflict News
Special Comment by Dr. Stephen Zunes, University of San Francisco |
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General Suharto should have been put on trial for crimes against humanity. Indeed, there is even more blood on his hands than Saddam Hussein, who was executed on a U.S. military base following a U.S.-backed show trial. That Suharto, a tyrant responsible for the murder of upwards to one million people, was nevertheless overthrown in a largely nonviolent civil insurrection rather than a foreign invasion is a powerful demonstration of the power of nonviolent action, but it does not mean that those responsible for large-scale crimes against humanity should not be held accountable for their actions. Soon after seizing power in 1965, Suharto slaughtered between a half million to three-quarters of a million alleged supporters of the Indonesian Communist Party. His invasion of East Timor in 1975 resulted in the deaths of over 200,000 civilians, nearly one-third of that island nation's population. Many hundreds more died in massacres in Tanjung Priok in Jakarta's port area in 1984, in Lampung on the southern tip of Sumatra in 1989, in the city of Dili in East Timor in 1991, and in a series of massacres in the Aceh province during the 1990s. If the current Indonesian government decides to honor Suharto during President Obama's scheduled visit to Jakarta, Obama should postpone his visit until another time. Indonesia is an important country with which the United States should maintain good relations, but it cannot justify complacency in the face of honoring a mass murderer. |
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