KKK - Bon Voyage

Former President Soeharto of Indonesia died on 27 January 2008. The former leader of the world's largest Muslim and Southeast Asian nation was 86. News reports on his legacy are divided as is the opinion of many Indonesians and others in the region. The clossest Western parallel is perhaps General Augusto Pinnochet.

Like Pinnochet, Soeharto has blood on his hands. Under his rule more than half a million people were "Purged" and unlike Pinnochet, Soeharto allowed corruption to become part of the culture. As I remember Dad telling me when he first took me to Bali - "Every Singaporean and Malaysian pays a tribute of S$10 for their first journey." The Soeharto family linned their pockets quite shamelessly - ok to be fair, Indonesia still ranked better than Nigeria in Transparency International's rankings and Nigerians looked to Indonesia as a positive example of what they could do if it were not for truely awful government.

What is Soeharto's legacy? Is he a muderous bastard? Or was he Indonesia's saviour? I'm inclined to follow Vinod's view of the man being "Necessary for his times." Yes, he did allot of bad things but he did allot of good too. Comming from SouthEast Asia, Soeharto was a necessary force for the region. I remember one of my shaper differences with Toni was on Soeharto. For Toni it was very clear, Soeharto was a mass murderer and a conquerer of nations. For me, he was all of that but he was also the man who kept ASEAN stable for so many years.

When it comes to talk of the Asian boom the names that come to mind are Mahatire of Malaysia and Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore. Both men have achieved many things. But in the world of geopolitics - size matters and Indonesia is by and far and away the biggest boy in this part of the world. I don't think Mahatire or LKY could not have done what they had, had it not been for Soeharto's efforts in keeping Indonesia stable and growing. Let's face it - Malaysia and Singapore only kept Indonesia at bay during the "Konfrantasi" period because the British did the fighting.

Under Soeharto, Indonesia did boom and the boom in Indonesia was good for Singapore. Yes, there are lots of poor people in Indonesia, many of them work as maids and other domestic workers in Singapore. But Indonesia is also exceedingly wealthy - and the very wealthy in Indonesia keep the Singapore economy ticking over quite nicely. I remember Dad used to need to run to Jakarta to do jobs with "Real Money" - unlike Singapore the clients in Jarkata actually had money to spend. Now that I'm in the work foce - its clear to me that industries like healthcare in Singapore would have a problem if it were not for wealthy Indonesians.

The 1997 crash was Soeharto's undoing. The man who had managed to make the economy one of the world's fastest growing seemed incompetent to lead it in the face of a crisis. Suddenly it was as if everything he had created turned out to be a rather crappy illusion. It was as if the only thing propping up the system was "hot money."

Then again, I believe Soeharto was brought down by the people he created - university students - sign of a large middle class - a group of people whom would never have existed without him and the boom that he created. As any social scientist will tell you - political revolution always belongs to the Middle Class! History has shown that the rich are never really too bothered by political going ons, while the poor are too destitute to care who is in power. And so the call for political change is left to the Middle Class to make and boy did the Indonesian Middle Class make it in 1997.

Soeharto was a sad figure at the end. I often compare him with LKY, which is in many ways an unfair comparison. Sure, Singapore is so slick and clean in comparison but its easy to run Singapore a small little island when compared with the enormous archipeligo that is Indonesia. By keeping Indonesia together and by creating a thriving middle class - Soeharto helped create the Asian Economic Miracle of the early 1990s. Malaysian and Singaporean governments could concentrate on their domestic fronts instead of worrying about Indonesia's territorial ambitions - Malaysian and Singaporean businesses had a good market in Indonesia's Middle Class.

In the end, I think his greatest mistake was hanging onto power for too long and not reigning in his family. I know I sound like a smug annoying Singaporean but when I watched his resignation speech in the safety of 22 Dead St in London, I appreciated the genious of LKY in passing on the torch to Goh Chok Tong, a successor he developed. Soeharto stayed in power too long - he was forced to preside over the collapse of the economy he built and more worryingly he had to hand over the reigns of power to BJ Habibie, man whom was never qualified for high office and more importantly, a man Soeharto believed was incapable of taking over.

Soeharto did many bad things in his 32 years of power. Today, the gap between the super rich and dirt poor remains quite obscene. Corruption remains quite endemic and millitant Islamic groups remain strong. These are the negative parts of his legacy.

However, Indonesia and Southeast Asia are slowly but surely maturing into prosperous and somewhat free and prosperous societies. Indonesia remains a major market for businessmen within the region and as the country works towards rooting out corruption, it looks like Indonesia's prospects are brightening and this pull Southeast Asia into a mature and prosperous age. General Soeharto certainly deserves credit for that too. Ironically, he is also partially responsible to ensuring that no Indonesian leader after him will have the dictatorial powers that he once held and that has to be a good thing too.

It will probably take a few more generations for Indonesia to unwind the bad things that Soeharto did. But it is starting to enjoy the benefits of Soeharto as it works towards retoring the economy to pre-1997 levels. When you look at it this way - Soeharto was a man necessary for his era. It's now up to Indonesians and other members of ASEAN to decide what type of leadership they want for next few years.