Sunday, January 27, 2008

Suharto Dead. Six Billion Alive. Time for a Little Reform.

To the Clinton White House, General Suharto was "our kind of guy," but to many Indonesian -- and other -- children he was the guy who killed their parents.

Now, General Suharto is dead, and in Heaven a million souls are beseeching God for permission to invade Hell and give him what he's got coming.

But even if they gave him a proper trial, it would be too late for their shot, starved bodies.

There are six billion people still above ground in this world.

Isn't it time for a little reform?

(See posting of January 13, 2008, "General Suharto of Indonesia. One Small Man Leaves a Million Corpses." For "our kind of guy" quote see David E. Sanger, "Real Politics: Why Suharto is In and Castro is Out," New York Times, October 31, 1995).

Link to Democracy Now! discussion re. Suharto and the US.

Link to tape of questioning of Richard Holbrooke and Bill Clinton re. their support for Suharto's killings.


NOTE TO READERS: News and Comment is looking for assistance with translating blog postings into other languages, and also with fund raising and distributing the blog content more widely. Those interested please get in touch via the e-mail link below.

NOTE TO READERS RE. TRANSLATION: Portions of News and Comment are now available in Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, French, German and Spanish translation (click on Profile link above) but translation help is still needed -- particularly with older postings, in these and all other languages.

Email Me