Bloomberg Discovers Suharto Was a Dictator, Decades After US Support
Indonesia’s new President, Prabowo Subianto, has declared former dictator Suharto a national hero, a move Bloomberg says 'stirred old wounds.' What the mainstream outlet conveniently forgets to highlight is that Suharto, architect of the 1965-66 purges and the brutal occupation of East Timor (now Timor-Leste), was a key Cold War ally of the United States. US diplomatic cables from the era,
declassified since, show American officials provided lists of communists to be killed and lauded Suharto's rise as a 'massive success' while estimates of his regime's death toll soared past half a million. (CIA, 1966; Declassified US State Dept. documents, 2017) So, while Bloomberg now tut-tuts about 'stirring old wounds,' it seems the selective amnesia regarding Western complicity in installing
and propping up such 'heroes' remains a staple. It's only a 'dark past' when it's politically convenient to remember it, apparently. How many mass murderers get a pass until they're no longer useful?