Agence France-Presse – 1/28/2008 6:10 AM
Singapore’s Lee praises Indonesian ex-president Suharto
History will accord former Indonesian president Suharto “a place of honour,” his long-time friend and Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew said in a condolence letter.
“Over the decades, he has shown himself to be a man of his word. Whatever he had promised, he would deliver. He was taciturn, but tenacious,” Lee said in a letter to Suharto’s daughter Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana.
The letter was released late Sunday by Singapore’s ministry of foreign affairs. Suharto, 86, died in a Jakarta hospital early on Sunday after multiple organ failure and was buried Monday.
“Younger people do not know how disastrous was the economic situation in Indonesia before September 1965 when hyper-inflation was drowning Indonesia’s economy,” wrote Lee.
“Under Pak Harto’s leadership, he turned the country around and made Indonesia an economic success story.”
“Pak Harto” is an affectionate term used to refer to Suharto.
Lee’s rule as Singapore’s prime minister coincided with much of Suharto’s presidency and the two states have close economic ties. Lee, 84, said they first met in 1970.
Suharto seized power in 1966 following an abortive coup. He stepped down almost 10 years ago as protests and riots engulfed the country amid a regional economic crisis, with millions plunged into poverty.
“He was not responsible for the foreign debt problems of many Indonesian companies and banks that triggered the rupiah’s fall,” Lee wrote, referring to Indonesia’s currency.
“I have no doubt history will accord Pak Harto a place of honour in Indonesia’s history when his life’s work is studied in calm perspective.”
Lee visited Suharto as he slept in his hospital bed in Jakarta two weeks before his death.
Lee stepped down as prime minister in 1990 but holds the position of Minister Mentor in the cabinet of his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
The Singaporean prime minister praised Suharto’s “leadership, vision and statesmanship” in his own condolence letter to Suharto’s daughter.
He said Suharto played a pivotal role in making the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) an effective organisation safeguarding the region’s interests.
“More than once, Pak Suharto’s personal courage and leadership made the difference,” Prime Minister Lee wrote.
Critics say Suharto was a ruthless dictator who leaves behind a legacy of bloodshed, human rights abuses and huge corruption that overshadows major economic progress during his rule.
“Yes, there was corruption. Yes, he gave favours to his family and his friends. But there was real growth, real progress,” Lee Kuan Yew was quoted by a Singapore newspaper as telling reporters after visiting Suharto in hospital.
“Whatever the criticisms against him, I am certain that history will honour him for his significant contributions to his country and our region,” another Singaporean leader, Goh Chok Tong, wrote to Suharto’s daughter.
Goh was Singapore’s prime minister during the last years of Suharto’s presidency.
“He was always gracious and thoughtful. But beneath his quiet, smiling demeanour and gentle hand-shake was a man of steel,” Goh wrote.
“I was always struck by how he had, time and again, weathered adversity in a most calm and dignified manner.”
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