The End of an Era

Well, in this case, the era already ended, in 1998. But, still, there is something nice about a former dictator who is ending his days without being in prison (or senile in office: Sr. Castro?). Dictators should retire, and it is worth remembering Suharto as a valuable asset in the Southeastern Asian struggle against Communism. When I was involved in things Indonesian it was the twilight of his reign. Most of the Balinese folks I knew detested him, and probably for good reason. Even the Indonesian officials were clearly not cheerleading with their full, personal enthusiasm (one of my early cooking triumphs was the evening the Consul General had thirds of the curry I made). And there is, of course, a Catholic angle: Suharto was anti-Commie, but did terrible, terrible things to the Catholics of East Timor. So, in the end he was, along with Marcos, the sort of fellow who could be called a bastard, but, maybe "our" bastard, provided "our" doesn't fully include us.

So, the best thing is to pray for him for repentence. Recovery? It is probably too late. But wouldn't it be wonderful if he repented?