The proposal to name former president Suharto a national hero is a policy that is blind to history and defies the law. During his 32 years in power, Suharto ruled over an authoritarian and corrupt regime, with a record of gross human rights violations.
This started with the mass murder and violence of 1965, among the victims of which was State Palace dancer Nani Nurani Affandi, who was imprisoned without due process for seven years. It then led to a series of other gross human rights violations, including the Talangsari incident in Lampung in 1989. Based on the 1989 Report on the State of Human Rights in Indonesia, it stated that the Talangsari incident resulted in 31 people being killed and several others imprisoned because they were accused of subversion; then the 1997-98 enforced disappearances of pro-democracy activists, 13 of which are still declared missing; the Rumoh Geudong in Aceh in 1989-98 that was used as a place of torture by the military during the armed conflict in Aceh and stood as a silent witness until the government demolished it in mid-2023; and the May 1998 riots, which based on a Joint Fact-Finding Team report resulted in 85 cases of sexual violence, including 52 cases of rape.
Tragically, Culture Minister Fadli Zon has denied that mass rapes occurred during the May 1998 incident as well as other rights violations under Suharto.
Aside from this, Suharto's track record of corruption is depicted through People's Consultative Assembly Decree (TAP MPR) XI/MPR/1998, dated November 13, 1998, in which Suharto was accused of being a perpetrator of corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN).
Despite this, efforts to uncover Suharto's corruption crimes failed. The case was halted with the issuance of an Order to Terminate the Prosecution of a Case (SKP3) dated May 12, 2006, by then-Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh due to health reasons.
The Indonesian government then pursued a civil lawsuit against Suharto as a defendant for billions of rupiah in state losses. However, despite successfully holding his Supersemar Foundation legally responsible to reimburse the state for the losses, Suharto, the former president, was personally untouchable by the law and therefore did not have to reimburse the state for the losses, as stipulated in Supreme Court Decision Number 140 PK/PDT/2015.
The practice of legal untouchability towards Suharto demonstrates that Suharto's cronies remain firmly entrenched in power despite the loud demands of reformasi (the political reform process that began with Suharto's resignation in 1998) to prosecute Suharto and his cronies. Now, President Prabowo Subianto, elected in a climate of reformasi, should act as a statesman to uphold the rule of law by demanding legal accountability for Suharto and his cronies, as mandated by the 1998 reformasi, rather than giving former president Suharto the red carpet to become a national hero.
Yet the history and regulations mandating that the state indict Suharto and his cronies to demand accountability are very clear and have not changed to this day, as outlined in TAP MPR Number 11/1998 on the Eradication of Corruption, Collusion and Nepotism. Therefore, the proposal to declare Suharto a national hero contradicts the mandate of the 1998 reformasi to immediately prosecute Suharto and eradicate corruption, collusion and nepotism. In other words, President Prabowo is betraying the mandate of the 1998 reformasi.
On the other hand, the procedures for nominating Suharto as a national hero, from the regional to the national level, were neither transparent nor accountable, and cast doubt on its objectivity. The proposal for the title of national hero is a presidential political decision that is vulnerable to misuse using various pretexts, such as the narrative of reconciliation.
At this point, declaring Suharto as a national hero will not only betray the ideals of reformasi and the public's sense of justice, but also constitute a destructive manipulation of history and the law. While victims of past gross human rights violations during President Suharto's era still struggle with justice that seems distant, Suharto is only a matter of days away from being declared a national hero.
Such a political decision by Prabowo would not only undermine the meaning of reconciliation but also erode human rights and the rule of law, while amputating democracy.
A constitutional state that guarantees the protection of human rights, should ensure that the victims of the Suharto regime receive justice, not be left without clarity. Therefore, President Prabowo should guarantee that victims of past gross human rights violations receive justice by bringing the perpetrators to justice.
Leaving the victims without justice actually demonstrates that the government is complicit in the violations. While some of the human tragedies mentioned above were acknowledged during the administration of former President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, promises of a comprehensive resolution of these cases remain far from being realised. Non-judicial resolutions also remain an illusion.
Even the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) investigation dossiers into past gross human rights violations remain stalled in the hands of the Attorney General as the investigator, as mandated by Law Number 26/2000 on Human Rights Courts. This situation demonstrates that guarantees of victims' access to truth and justice remain an illusion.
Based on the breakdown above, the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) states the following:
- President Prabowo must immediately reject and stop the process of nominating Suharto as a national hero;
- The political parties, the House of Representatives (DPR) and the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) must reject the proposal to make Suharto a national hero;
- The President and the DPR must order law enforcement officials to immediately continue the law enforcement process by bringing the Suharto family and their cronies involved in corruption, collusion and nepotism cases and human rights violations to court;
- President Prabowo must order the Attorney General to immediately continue the investigation process into past human rights cases to the stage of a criminal investigation as gross human rights violations;
- President Prabowo and the DPR must stop issuing policies that betray the mandate of reformasi, endanger democracy, human rights and the rule of law;
- The Indonesian people must not stop speaking out against the awarding of the title of hero to Suharto or any other figure who is not worthy or deserving of it.
Jakarta, November 1, 2025
With our respect,
YLBHI Management
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Penjahat HAM dan Bapak Korupsi: Hentikan Upaya Pemberian Gelar Pahlawan Kepada Mantan Presiden Soeharto!".]
