FORMER INDONESIAN PRESIDENT SUHARTO LAID TO REST
AFP NewsAgency - January 28, 2008MATESIH, Indonesia (AFP) — Former Indonesian president Suharto was laid to rest with full military honours Monday, ending a controversial chapter in the history of the nation he ruled with an iron fist for 32 years.
The ex-dictator, whose rule became a byword for rampant corruption and rights abuses despite huge economic progress, was buried at a family mausoleum in the town of Matesih.
Hundreds of mourners gathered along the flag-lined road leading to the mausoleum on the main island of Java with many expressing nostalgia for the Suharto era.
"I think Pak Harto thought of the people," a 53-year-old woman named Mariani told AFP, using the respectful name by which Suharto was known.
"Everything was cheap, now things are expensive."
Inside the complex, Suharto's coffin was carried out of the hearse to military drumming, preceded by soldiers carrying his portrait and two wreaths.
Family members and close friends of the former leader followed the coffin into the traditional steep-roofed Javanese mausoleum where he was to be buried in a white marble tomb between his wife Siti Hartinah Suharto and his mother-in-law, members of Javanese royalty.
Suharto's coffin, draped in garlands of jasmine flowers, was then lowered into the ground amid a salvo of gunfire following a short speech by current President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the country's first directly elected leader.
Family members and close friends showered the coffin with rose petals and jasmine flowers before Yudhoyono shovelled the first sprinkles of earth onto it.
Suharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hardiyati Rukmana, known as Tutut, broke down in tears as she delivered a eulogy.
"If he ever did some wrong and sinned, may God grant his forgiveness," she said, a nod towards accusations his strict decades rule was overshadowed by bloodshed.
"We also ask that hopefully all of you, sirs and madams, be willing to forgive all mistakes and faults of the late (Suharto).
"Father, farewell father. Our prayers are always with you."
A golden parasol was then planted at the side of the headstone, an honour usually reserved for members of the nobility.
Suharto's regime was scarred by repression, from the killings of at least half a million communists and sympathisers after an abortive coup that allowed him to seize power in 1966, to invading East Timor and repressing separatist movements in Aceh and Papua provinces.
Around 200,000 Timorese were either killed in the invasion or died from preventable causes during the occupation.
Yudhoyono, in a speech afterwards, listed Suharto's services to the nation but acknowledged his faults -- albeit sparingly.
"In full honesty and with a clean heart, we should all recognise that there have been so many services that the late (Suharto) has contributed to the nation and the state, but we also realise that as a mere human and as a leader, the late (Suharto) was certainly not free of mistakes and shortcomings," he said.
The body of Suharto, who died Sunday aged 86 of multiple organ failure, was flown from the capital Jakarta early Monday to the city of Solo before being driven the short distance to the mausoleum.
A number of foreign dignitaries hoping to attend the funeral arrived too late for the ceremony, including East Timor's prime minister Xanana Gusmao and former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad.
Mahathir, who had visited Suharto in hospital earlier this month, arrived at the mausoleum 20 minutes after the official ceremony had ended.
A stern-faced Gusmao arrived shortly after Mahathir but only stayed inside the mausoleum for a few minutes.
Gusmao's country was brutally occupied by Suharto's Indonesia between 1975 and 1999.
Suharto's death marks the passing of yet another of the authoritarian and mostly pro-Western strongmen who dominated this region of Asia for much of the late 20th century.
His rule also left a legacy of widespread corruption that put billions of dollars into the hands of friends and relatives.
At the same time, by putting stability and economic growth above all else, he steered this sprawling archipelago nation through a boom that led many here to hail him as the father of development.
He was forced to quit in 1998 amid political paralysis and economic crisis, retiring to an upmarket Jakarta suburb and fending off all attempts to bring him to trial.
Increasingly frail, he was hospitalised on January 4 with heart, lung and kidney complaints.
International reaction to his death acknowledged his mixed legacy.
Source: AFP NewsAgency - afp.google.com