Suharto: A Declassified Documentary Obit

Edited by Brad Simpson
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 242 (http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB242/index.htm)
Posted by Bulatlat
ALTERNATIVE READER
Vol. VIII, No. 2, February 10-16, 2008

As Indonesia buries former President Suharto who died January 27 at the age of 86, the National Security Archive posted the day after a selection of declassified U.S. documents detailing his record of repression and corruption, and the long-standing U.S. support for his regime.

The documents include transcripts of meetings with U.S. Presidents Richard M. Nixon, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, as well as Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Vice-President Walter Mondale, then Vice-President George W. Bush, and former Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke.

Additional documents detail U.S. perceptions of Suharto from the earliest years of his rule, including the 1969 annexation of West Papua, the 1975 invasion of East Timor, and the so-called “Mysterious Killings” of 1983-1984.

“In death Suharto has escaped justice both in Indonesia and East Timor,” said Brad Simpson, who directs the Archive’s Indonesia and East Timor Documentation Project. “But these declassified documents, detailing the long record of U.S. support for one of the 20th century’s most brutal and corrupt men, will contribute to our understanding both of Suharto’s rule and of the U.S. support which helped make it possible.” Posted by Bulatlat

Editor’s Note: Visit the National Security Archive (http://www.nsarchive.org) for more information. The National Security Archive is an independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. It collects and publishes declassified documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).