Former General Who Led Mass Killings 'Not So Bad,' Says Ex-Son-in-Law
Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto is accused of downplaying the brutal Suharto dictatorship. The FT notes this. What's often glossed over is that Suharto, seizing power in 1965, presided over the killing of an estimated 500,000 to 1 million alleged communists. Prabowo, then a rising military star, married Suharto's daughter, benefiting directly from the regime that purged political opponents and
annexed East Timor through bloody violence. He wasn't just a political heir; he was a literal family one. It appears that praising an era defined by mass murder and repression is only an 'accusation' of whitewashing when the individual doing the praising is running for president. Funny how selective that outrage can be when Western 'allies' are involved, isn't it? One might wonder how many
political leaders get to rewrite their family's brutal history for public consumption.