Former Indonesian dictator General Suharto has died at the age of eighty-six. He ruled the country from 1966 to 1998 and oversaw the murder of over one million people in a series of political purges of dissidents and wars on the populations of East Timor, Aceh and West Papua. Despite his human rights record, Suharto remained a close US ally and a recipient of US military aid. On Sunday, the US Ambassador to Indonesia, Cameron Hume, said in a statement, “Though there may be some controversy over his legacy, President Suharto was a historic figure who left a lasting imprint on Indonesia and the region of Southeast Asia.” Meanwhile, human rights activists in Indonesia said justice still needs to be served for the hundreds of thousands of victims of Suharto’s regime.

Usman Hamid, head of the victim rights organization Kontras: “We’d like to express our condolence to the family of Suharto who loved Suharto. But I think Indonesia has to move on. Indonesia has to solve past human rights abuses. We cannot forget the past. We have to remember the past. By remembering the past, we, as a country, can work together to solve the past in order to be a great nation. There are many people, thousands of people, who lost their parents, who lost their fathers, their mothers, their sons, and I think they need justice.”