Today in Labor History March 12, 1967: Suharto took power from Sukarno in Indonesia. He ruled Indonesia as an authoritarian, kleptocratic dictator for 31 years, and is widely considered one of the most brutal and corrupt dictators of the 20th century. During that time, he amassed a fortune worth $38 billion. Suharto rose to power under Sukarno during the 1965-1966 genocide. During that ostensibly anti-Communist purge, Suharto’s troops murdered 1-3 million communists, labor activists, peasants and ethnic minorities. During that genocide, he received support military and economic from both the U.S. and the U.K. In 1974, the Suharto regime, with approval of U.S. president Gerald Ford, invaded East Timor, killing over 200,000 Timorese. Another 75,000-200,000 died from starvation and disease. The current Indonesian government is considering awarding him the posthumous honor of National Hero.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #genocide #indonesia #easttimor #massacre #deathsquads #suharto #sukarno #dictator #communist #union #torture #imperialism #coldwar #starvation
Penjahat HAM seperti Suharto dan Sarwo Edhie Wibowo sangat sangat tidak layak untuk dijadikan pahlawan nasional Indonesia!
#indonesia #hakasasimanusia #ham #humanrights #humanright #soeharto #suharto #pahlawan #pahlawannasional #hero #heroes #nationalhero #nationalheroes #pelanggaranham #humanrightsviolations #humanrightsabuses #sofiaflorina #ソフィアフロリナ
Today in Labor History October 8, 1965: The Indonesian military, led by future dictator Suharto, began torturing and massacring thousands of "suspected" Communists, leading ultimately to the overthrow of leftist President Sukarno. Other targets of the murders were members of the Gerwani women’s movement, trade unionists, ethnic Javanese Abangan, ethnic Chinese, atheists, teachers, students, and alleged leftists in general. The U.S. embassy provided the death squads with the names of suspected “communists.” Intelligence agencies from the U.S., U.K., and Australia provided anti-communist propaganda, as well as military and logistical aid. Overall, the genocide (1965-1966) led to 500,000 to 1.2 million civilian deaths and 1.5 million imprisoned. A top-secret CIA report from 1968 called the massacres "one of the worst mass murders of the 20th century, along with the Soviet purges of the 1930s, the Nazi mass murders, and the Maoist bloodbath of the early 1950s." Nevertheless, Western media either downplayed the events, or celebrated them. Suharto remained in power until 1998, continuing to imprison, torture and slaughter workers and civilians. He also presided over the East Timor Genocide of up to 300,000 people in the 1970’s.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #genocide #indonesia #suharto #coldwar #communism #anticommunism #torture #easttimor #cia
"Il primo ottobre di sessant'anni fa l'esercito di #Suharto dava inizio all'«annichilimento» dei militanti del #Pki e dei loro familiari: vennero sterminate tra 500 mila e un milione di persone."
#indonesia #IndonesianGenocide #2ottobre
https://jacobinitalia.it/indonesia-storia-di-un-genocidio-anticomunista/
#Jacobin is really the king of commissioning older western white #leftists to write about the global south. This piece does no original reporting, has no Indonesian voices, and makes blanket statements.
It's not bad, but I can think of dozens of Indonesians who could have written a far better piece than this.
https://jacobin.com/2025/08/indonesia-suharto-genocide-revisionism-authoritarianism/
#Indonesia #Suharto #Prabowo #Left #Tankies #AccidentalCommunism
In the 1960s, the Indonesian dictator Suharto was responsible for one of the twentieth century’s bloodiest political massacres. Under the rule of Prabowo, the country’s government is suppressing the memory of Suharto’s crimes while vilifying the Left.
"A pro-regime student organizer under the Suharto dictatorship that held power from 1966 to 1998, styling itself as the “New Order,” the bespectacled Fadli now occupies the office of minister of culture and is one of Indonesia’s more polarizing figures. Known for his populist theatrics, far-right nationalism, and Sinophobia, Fadli has long flirted with historical mythmaking.
Now, with the launch of his controversial project to “revise” Indonesia’s national history curriculum and state-supported narratives, he is attempting something far more dangerous. It amounts to the rejection of more than twenty-five years of democratic reforms and increased academic freedom, and a return of the Suharto dictatorship’s propaganda machine. The project comes as political analysts, civil society organizations, and activists are raising the alarm about the government’s increasingly repressive actions.
Known for his populist theatrics, far-right nationalism, and Sinophobia, Fadli Zon has long flirted with historical mythmaking.
Although Fadli has framed the initiative as a corrective effort to decolonize Indonesian historiography and purge it of alleged foreign distortions, it is, in fact, a thinly veiled crusade to rehabilitate the New Order legacy, demonize the Left, and entrench a narrow ethnonationalist and patriarchal vision of Indonesia’s past. In the process, it threatens to undo decades of hard-won efforts by progressive historians, civil society actors, and survivors of state violence to foster a more inclusive and democratic understanding of Indonesian history."
https://jacobin.com/2025/08/indonesia-suharto-genocide-revisionism-authoritarianism/
In the 1960s, the Indonesian dictator Suharto was responsible for one of the twentieth century’s bloodiest political massacres. Under the rule of Prabowo, the country’s government is suppressing the memory of Suharto’s crimes while vilifying the Left.
Liam O'Mara IV, PhD
MikeDunnAuthor
The Japan Times
Sofia Florina
MAU
Nithin Coca నితిన్
Miguel Afonso Caetano