Suharto Was Not a Dictator

 
The Three Great Fathers of South East Asia

 

It gets in my nerve whenever those media post headlines that say “EX-Dictator Suharto……”, or “Former Dictator of Indonesia”.. and many others along those lines.

As cliche as it maybe, a dictator is someone who holds absolute power over his state, citizens, and law. Often a totalitarian, with personal abuse of power.

I have not been able to voice my opinion out on this, because I have not been able to find any sources that back up my thought.

Sure, he was a ruler that sacrificed personal freedom of Indonesians, but that was made not to please his personal gains, but to ensure Indonesia’s economy could grow faster.

And yes, he had ‘economic benefits ‘ for him, and his family, which made him a corruptor, not a dictator.
 (although all dictators, corrupt)

I found a new post on Indonesia’s National News Site, Antara, and I was glad that somebody had brought this topic out to public.

Greg Fealy, an Australian Indonesianist (so it says on the news site), said that the reason Suharto was not a dictator is because he  was not the only authority in power over a state. He balanced the power level in his regime, the military, and his citizens. He could not have full say over Indonesian politics, and the Indonesian nation.

Just think of it this way, if Suharto was a dictator, so were Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohammad, and Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew.

That is why, Indonesianists, and traditionalists have characterized the term “Ex-Dictator” for Suharto as Misleading. A reason for this is because, in dictatorial concept, he has not reached the dictatorial stage, like the Uganda’s Idi Amien, Pol Pot of Kamboja, and the famous Russian Stalin.

Virginia Hooker, the author of the book “Voices of Islam in South East Asia: A contemporary Sourcebook” 2006, also agreed that Suharto has not entered such level of dictatorial reign, in comparison to other great dictators.

Since Suharto was admitted to the hospital of Pertamina in Jakarta, the world, especially the west, have made headlines concerning Suharto, some with the word Dictator on it.

You know what, I don’t care if he was a dictator or not, all I know is that he made great achievements.

Notice that these so called dictators, Suharto, Lee Kuan Yew, and Mahathir, they were the ones that built each respective country from strength to strength, and they made the same sacrifice: personal freedom.

Let’s face the truh, do we all really need the overrated ‘democracy’ we all been fighting for? In my view, developing countries like Indonesia, and Malaysia are better off without democracy. In other word, the people are not ready for it.

It’s like raising a family, when our children are on their developing stage, we need to guide them to understand better things, and have better lives in the future. When they reach certain age, then we set them free.

I’m not against democracy, I believe in the basics of democracy, like freedom of speech, peaceful demonstrations, human rights, equal rights, but there should be limit to all of these privileges, something people nowadays don’t like: control.

Like Spiderman said: “With great power, comes great responsibility”

Are we all ready for these responsibilities?

 Democracy is overrated.

It shouldn’t be.