Overview
- The designation was made on Nov. 10 during National Heroes Day at the State Palace in Jakarta, where Suharto was one of ten honorees and his children received the award.
- President Prabowo Subianto, Suharto’s former son-in-law and a former special forces commander under him, presided over the ceremony.
- Government officials defended the choice, saying a formal review found Suharto met the criteria and highlighting his independence-era service, while asserting his role in the 1965–66 killings was never proven.
- Activists, victims’ families and groups including KontraS, Amnesty International Indonesia and Human Rights Watch condemned the move as historical revisionism and held protests and vigils.
- Reporting cites historians’ estimates that hundreds of thousands were killed in the 1965–66 purge and notes alleged abuses in East Timor and other regions were never fully investigated, fueling concerns about rehabilitating authoritarian-era figures.