Suharto+in+Indonesia

Dutch imperialists in Indonesia saw Indonesia as their permanent home, and those who governed there had no intention of moving back. Because of this, the Dutch continually resisted Indonesian attempts to join the civil service, but after the War, the Indonesians would not tolerate being under Dutch servitude any more. The Indonesians put together a guerrilla army and won the support of the United States and the United Nations; this convinced the Dutch to grant Indonesia independence. The new Indonesia was the fourth most populous nation, led by Sukarno, life-time president. When junior army officers attempted a coup in 1965 and were felled by general Suharto, the stage was set for Suharto to sieze power. Suharto began a mass-murder of 500,000 to 1 million Indonesian and in 1967 siezed the Presidency. He turned Indonesia in a police state, frequently declaring martial law. Suharto annexed Timor, which was met with much criticism from outside observers. Chinese were discriminated against, but tolerated due to financial contributions; Christians were persecuted. Suharto steped down in 1998. There is hope for democracy in Indonesia, however; in 1999 the first democratic transfer of power elected Abdurrahman Wahid as President. There are no longer genocides. This cartoon shows the tendency to look the otherwat when it comes to human rights violations. A tendency which is all too common throughouth history. Most people would rather see other countries hurt themselves then potentialy put themselves in harms way. media type="youtube" key="EgUOocLNcVc" height="344" width="425"This video shows a major part of how civil rights violations are allowed to happen in the first place; most people think Suharto was a good, benevolent ruler who should be forgiven for his crimes against humanity. This doesn;t make sense, but its what people think. How can society move on when people don't see true problems?