Lontar launches book on Soeharto
Lontar launches book on Soeharto
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Celebrated philosopher Voltaire once said "the only lesson one
can learn from history is that the people never learn from
history".
Fortunately, this did not stop a number of noted writers from
compiling yet another "historical" book that takes aim at former
president Soeharto's infamous authoritarian regime -- the New
Order.
Publisher Lontar Foundation, in collaboration with the Asia
Foundation, called the collection Indonesia in the Soeharto
Years: Issues, Incidents and Images, and aimed to reflect and
scrutinize what went right and wrong during Soeharto's
leadership.
Released on Friday to coincide with the Asia Foundation's 50th
anniversary in Indonesia, the book contains over 50 essays and
countless photographs that serve as a reminder of both the good
and the bad times of Soeharto's many years in power.
Divided into nine chapters, the pages run from the grim 1965
era -- when Soeharto clamored to power to become the country's
second president, replacing founding father Soekarno -- to last
year's first-ever direct presidential elections.
"This book simply shares stories, some of them surely
opinionated, from the many important figures who had direct
contact with Soeharto's leadership in various ways," said book
initiator and coordinator John H. McGlynn.
Essay contributors include former United States president
Jimmy Carter, former minister and Soeharto aide Moerdiono,
revered novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer, who was once imprisoned
by Soeharto's New Order regime for supporting the formally legal
Communist Party of Indonesia, human rights activist Asmara
Nababan, and East Timor President Xanana Gusmao.
"We tried to make it as objective as possible as it remains
undeniable that while Soeharto installed many negative political
maneuvers during his tenure, his administration produced so many
other positive things that Indonesia can be very proud of," said
McGlynn.
Soeharto, whose trial for corruption and gross human rights
abuses remains stalled due to his apparent poor health, has been
despised for his authoritarian style of leadership that killed
freedom of expression and diversity of opinion.
On the other hand, his administration was once praised by the
United Nations for significant advances in Indonesia's family
planning program, while international financiers lauded his
development plans, until, of course, things fell apart following
the regional financial crisis of the late 1990s.
"The book contains shots of different events and stories that
have taken place since Soeharto ruled until recently. There's no
absolute truth that we can ever claim here.
"But by sharing these versions of history, it is hoped that we
can learn to take the good things and leave behind the bad ones,
for our own sake in the future," said contributor Taufik
Abdullah.