The Sunshine Empire

As we receive many visits from the far east, including the occasional visit from Jakarta, we wanted to comment on the death of former President Suharto.  First, public figures in the United States that only go by one name are either pop musicians or sports celebrities, so his going by one name like his predecessor Sukarno seems a bit odd.  Yet he had a mixed legacy that many Americans know nothing about.  Suharto came to power in a bloody coup, and his reign was marked by many deaths, but his economic policies had lasting effects in such a sprawling and unwieldy nation.  Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world and has been a U.S. ally for most of that time.  But do you judge him for the deaths, or judge him for the progress and moderation that his country is marked by?  What is most remarkable is how when street protests became too much in 1998, he did not stage a crackdown like the Chinese and Burmese have done, he simply stepped aside.  Let us know what you think, if you are reading from the Far East.