- times 22.12.65 reporting bb dayorder doubleplusungood refs unpersons rewrite fullwise upsub antefiling
From the Department of Crime Doesn’t Pay comes the sad news [AP, January 26/7] that former Indonesian President Suharto (1965–1998) has died at the tender age of 86, after a lifetime of service to the poor of Indonesia:
…Suharto took power in 1965, with Washington’s strong support and assistance. Army-led massacres wiped out the PKI [Partai Komunis Indonesia/Communist Party of Indonesia] and devastated its mass base in “one of the worst mass murders of the 20th century,” comparable to the atrocities of Hitler, Stalin, and Mao, the CIA reported, judging “the Indonesian coup” to be “certainly one of the most significant events of the 20th century”. Perhaps half a million or more were killed within a few months.
The events were greeted [by] undisguised euphoria. The New York Times described the “staggering mass slaughter” as “a gleam of light in Asia,” praising Washington for keeping its own role quiet so as not to embarrass the “Indonesian moderates” who were cleansing their society, then rewarding them with generous aid. Time praised the “quietly determined” leader Suharto with his “scrupulously constitutional” procedures “based on law, not on mere power” as he presided over a “boiling bloodbath” that was “the West’s best news for years in Asia”.
The reaction was near uniform. The World Bank restored Indonesia to favour. Western governments and corporations flocked to Suharto’s “paradise for investors,” impeded only by the rapacity of the ruling family. For more than 20 years, Suharto was hailed as a “moderate” who is “at heart benign” (The Economist) as he compiled a record of slaughter, terror, and corruption that has few counterparts in postwar history.
Suharto is also hailed for his economic achievements. An Australian specialist who participated in economic modeling in Indonesia dismisses the standard figures as “seriously inaccurate”: the regularly reported 7% growth rate, for example, was invented on government orders, overruling the assessment of the economists. He confirms that economic growth took place, thanks to Indonesia’s oil reserves and the green revolution, “the benefits of which even the massive inefficiency of the system of corruption could not entirely erode.” The benefits were enhanced by extraction of other resources and the supply of super-cheap labour, kept that way by the labour standards that impress Washington. Much of the rest is “a mirage,” as was quickly revealed when “foreign investors stampeded.”
The estimated $80 billion private debt is held by at most a few hundred individuals, Indonesian economists estimate, perhaps as few as fifty. The wealth of the Suharto family is estimated at roughly the scale of the IMF rescue package. The estimates suggest simple ways to overcome the “financial crisis,” but these are not on the agenda. The costs are to be borne primarily by 200 million Indonesians who borrowed nothing, along with Western taxpayers, in accord with the rules of “really existing capitalism”… ~ Noam Chomsky, ‘Indonesia, master card in Washington’s hand’, Le Monde Diplomatique, June 1998
Oddly, The Newspaper of Record has not greeted Suharto’s tragic death in quite the same awed tones as it did his assumption of power in 1965. According to this year’s version, his “32-year dictatorship was one of the most brutal and corrupt of the 20th century”, characterised by “pervasive and large-scale corruption; repressive, militarized rule; and a convulsion of mass bloodletting when he seized power in the late 1960s that took at least 500,000 lives”.
Huh? What happened to the gleam of light?
Time:
Stability had been Suharto’s gift to his country. He had come to power at the head of a junta of generals in 1965, overthrowing the country’s flamboyant and charismatic first president, Sukarno, whose friendship with Beijing and predeliction for Communists in the government had brought the country to the brink of economic collapse and civil war. Ensconced in power, Suharto proceeded to purge the country of Communism and anyone suspected of Communist sympathy. No one knows how many died. One estimate has it at 500,000 — among them many Indonesians of Chinese descent. The Communist Party was outlawed and Indonesian citizens banned from having Chinese names…
Wha-? Surely, if Suharto’s coup and the subsequent mass murder was the West’s best news for years in Asia, the death of one of its key architects merits some more extensive acknowledgment? Locally, The Patron Saint of Adelaide Private School Boys, Alexander Downer, has perhaps come closest to recognising Soharto’s many virtues (in both theory and practice):
“He was a man who despite his human rights record in Indonesia, which was less than desirable, he was committed to a good relationship with Australia and understood the importance of Australia to Indonesia,” Mr Downer told AAP from his home in the Adelaide Hills.
“I always appreciated that and he was always very civil in my dealings with him and very responsive to building a relationship between Australia and Indonesia.
“He had a very good vision for building a strong South-East Asian community and a positive view about Australia being part of that.”
Speaking of which, Eighties’ music has become synonymous with Disco, Pop, and New Wave. But when I think Eighties, I think Crucifucks. I wanna take the President / Chop off his head / And mail it to them in a garbage bag / Hinkley had a vision / Hinkley had a vision…
- As soon as Winston had dealt with each of the messages, he clipped his speakwritten corrections to the appropriate copy of the Times and pushed them into the pneumatic tube. Then, with a movement which was as nearly as possible unconscious, he crumpled up the original message and any notes that he himself had made, and dropped them into the memory hole to be devoured by the flames.
The small part of me that still has hope for the future was surprised that news reports mainly gave praise to the vague quality of “stability” Suharto somehow magically conferred while committing genocide in Timor and… well, you know the rest.
I take your Crucifucks and return with the accusation of wrongthink. You should have thought about this. So awesomely 80s.
“On behalf of the government and people of Australia, I extend to the president and people of the Republic of Indonesia our condolences on the passing of former Indonesian president Suharto,” Mr Rudd said.
I feel sick to my fucking stomach. You just made the list Kevin.
Sorry L, you’re arguably correct on that one. On the one hand, XTC formed in the 70s; on the other, ‘Generals & Majors’ was released in 1980. So… just. And yeah, I think some of their stuff is great. In fact I used to listen to Drums & Wires heaps when I was a kid… and ‘Senses Working Overtime’ has a special resonance for me too. Also The Clash, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, The Jam, Joy Division, The Specials, Teardrop Explodes et al.
UH, the list of hypocritical Xtians is a long one; he’s just rendering unto Caesar. Besides, what’s a little genocide between friends?
What would Bonhoeffer say, Kev oh Sev?
About the size of the Timor Gap! (boom boom!)
As for XTC, their sound was always more influential than popular. Even there 70s stuff sounds quintessentially 80s over most early 80s pop, if you know what I mean.
In hindsight, I should have linked to Buck’s Fizz. My bro loved ‘Making Your Mind Up’ when we were kids. Now he’s really into black metal and hair metal (seriously). ‘Making Your Mind Up’ is so insanely upbeat, like Devo’s ‘Beautiful World’ minus the irony. FYI: Buck’s Fizz has had 15 members in its lineup since 1981. I don’t care why.
Speaking of upbeat, Suharto is dead. Yay!
I meant “Even their 70s stuff”. It’s late.
Buck’s Fizz had a strange effect on my innocent young mind.
Incidentally, the OTHER Hinckley – the Mormon prophet – also died on Sunday… a couple of hours before Suharto.
At the time I thought all members were on coke or speed.
‘Sorted for E’s and Wizz’ was a rare B-side, later covered by Pulp.
Fact.
Hinckley. At the tender age of 97, another life cut tragically short.
Fact.
Mother! Mother! I’m never coming home! I seem to have left part of my brain in a field in New Hampshire!
Thanks for this @ndy: “Buck’s Fizz had a strange effect on my innocent young mind.” How dare you make me relive the trauma 😉 I wanted Adam and the Ants – my folks got me Buck’s Fizz. I haven’t been the same since 🙁
all the best.
gregg.
Did you read Keating’s article in The Age this morning? All I can say is “Fuuuuuuuuuuck!”
Hey Andrew,
Nah, but I have now. Awesome stuff from Paul. I love the way he merrily skips past the 1965 massacres:
In reality:
In other words, 500,000 men women and children had to be slaughtered so that ‘stability’ could be achieved and had it not our defence budget would have been much higher and Indonesia a lawless (sic) Communist state. Thus:
Given the depth of moral depravity on display, I’m really not sure it’s possible to satirise Keating here. Of course, he also ignores the little matter of genocide in East Timor — of the peoples many thousands of whom sacrificed their own lives to save the lives of Australian soldiers during WWII — not to mention the disgusting levels of inequality within Indonesia, or what Keating terms ‘stability’.
Pure scum.
See also :
The Australian Labor Party and Indonesia’s dictator Suharto, Peter Symonds, wsws, January 31, 2008
Government leaders pay tribute to Indonesia’s former dictator Suharto, Peter Symonds, wsws, January 30, 2008
Australian governments covered up 1975 execution of “Balibo Five” newsmen, Mike Head, wsws, April 21, 2007
Documents confirm US colluded in Indonesia’s 1969 incorporation of Papua, John Roberts, wsws, August 30, 2004
US orchestrated Suharto’s 1965-66 slaughter in Indonesia : Part 1: New evidence on how the October 1 coup was triggered, Mike Head, wsws, July 19, 1999
A few days in Surabaya: The rich and poor of Indonesia, Anon, wsws, November 1998