Word: suhartos
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...watching, Slobo? Pay attention, Saddam. It's been a bad week for tyrants everywhere, what with Wednesday's reported decision by Chile's high court to strip General Augusto Pinochet of his self-authored immunity from human rights prosecutions, followed by Thursday's indictment of former Indonesian strongman Suharto on corruption charges. Retirement, it seems, is the hardest part of despotism...
...Suharto's brutal 32-year reign ended two years ago, when the army that had kept him in power ordered him to step down in the face of economic collapse and social tumult. But the military also facilitated Suharto's departure by guaranteeing him immunity from prosecution. But like Pinochet, Suharto may be a victim of the shifting balance of power, although the balance hasn't shifted quite as far in Indonesia, which is still beset by ethnic violence and fierce infighting among both the political and military elites - and that's worked to Suharto's advantage. Even if convicted...
Even as he tries to push forward with his grand vision of democratic reform, a malign undertow draws Wahid back into the corrupt old ways of Suharto and his cronies. Financial scandals have been creeping closer to his inner circle. Now his former masseur is being investigated for allegedly embezzling $4.7 million from the state rice-distribution agency...
When Wahid took office, his unpredictability was interpreted as an asset in a complex mission to cleanse Indonesia of the legacy of Suharto. Eight months on, even his supporters are starting to worry that it might be a liability. The economy is barely holding together, and religious violence is shaking the country to its foundations. Since mid-June, more than 200 Christians and Muslims have been killed in fighting in the Maluku Islands. Having admitted that "the situation is out of control," Wahid two weeks ago declared a state of emergency in the region. But the shooting and bombing have...
Moreover, Suharto's shadow may hang over Indonesia until the disposition of the ex-dictator's allegedly ill-begotten fortune is determined. Last month a court in Jakarta threw out a defamation suit brought by Suharto against TIME for a May 1999 article claiming that the President and his family had acquired some $15 billion during his rule. (Suharto has appealed.) Wahid cites the suit as proof of the dictator's hidden wealth. Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono has accused cronies of Suharto's of inciting bloody riots to derail further investigations. Yet in the meantime, Wahid has been secretly negotiating...