Remembering Suharto. Noice. One of the most bloodthirsty dictators of the 20th century — who killed up to a million of his own people, then ruthlessly r-ped a defenseless country, took it over and killed 200,000 more — died last week. The Bush Administation’s reaction was swift, and entirely characteristic of a government that has devoted itself to the advancement of human liberty across the globe: they sang the mass murderer a hymn of praise. — Chris Floyd, Empire Burlesque

Indonesia prospers, despite Suharto. Now that he’s gone, I hope Australians will begin to recognise the immense progress Indonesia has made against daunting odds. From one of the tightest dictatorships in our region, with a military caste heavily embedded in both politics and business, the country has made a successful transition to democracy, with, in my judgement, each succeeding government better than the last. While the current president Yudhoyono is a former general he also seems to be both competent and a genuine democrat. — John Quiggin

Why the tears? Yes, Suharto … did some good, such as it was, like leading Indonesia out of a bad economic turn in the ‘60s, and making it again a member of the United Nations. But by that standard Mussolini was also a pretty good guy: he promoted a lot of public works, including the cleaning up of the malaria swamps south of Rome. — Rationally Speaking

Indonesians forgive. I’ve found so many (Indonesian) bloggers post about Suharto. I was amazed (and confused?) to read that most of them forgive Suharto and pray for him. — Finally Woken

Why didn’t Indonesians act? There are many Indonesians now who feel cheated that Suharto has gone to meet his maker before he could be held to account for his transgressions. They are the type who would recall misdeeds perpetrated on themselves, their friends or their relatives from years ago. Fair enough. It looks like Suharto has managed to evade justice but the flip side of this equation is what the hell did the wronged ones do to force the governments after Suharto to bring the former dictator to account for his deeds? — Unspun

Suharto, you filthy bloodstained monster. We will never forget the bodies floating in the rivers, Suharto, you filthy bloodstained monster. Hopefully, he is spending a long hot time in the worst of hells, suffering all the tortures that he inflicted upon the millions of Indonesians who were so unlucky as to be alive when he, with CIA money and assistance, overthrew Sukarno and sold Indonesia piecemeal to Western capitalists. — ThePoliticalCat

Media Buries US Complicity in Suharto’s Murderous Rule. As Suharto, former Indonesian president and brutal dictator, is laid to rest today, the U.S. mainstream media has chosen to bury or ignore outright our government’s role in his murderous reign. Consider the Associated Press 1,441-word article on Suharto’s burial, the main story on the subject currently running on the websites of The New York Times, Washington Post, MSNBC and CNN, in which one sentence – just 31 words, 30 paragraphs into the report – is allocated to this relationship: “During the Cold War, Suharto was considered a reliable friend of Washington, which did not oppose his violent occupation of Papua in 1969 and the bloody 1974 invasion of East Timor.” — at-Largely

Suharto and “democracy”. Far more damning is the authoritarian rule of Suharto. Laws against “subversion” and “spreading hate” were extensively used to arrest and imprison those accused of opposing his manufactured “democracy”. — Liberty Scott