HONG KONG — In death, Indonesia's former President Suharto was praised as a great and almost saintly ruler. At Suharto's state funeral Monday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono saluted the casket, one general to another, and declared "His service is an example to us."
World leaders vied to praise the late dictator's contribution to building peace and prosperity.
Was this the man also responsible for the deaths of so many people, for the turmoil and destruction and death in East Timor, and for corruption and kleptocracy on an unparalleled scale?