Reactions to the conferral of the National Hero title upon Soeharto were mixed. Strong opposition came from activists, academics, and several political parties who criticized Soeharto’s record of human rights violations and authoritarian rule.
Conversely, messages of congratulations and support were expressed by his family, political figures such as Surya Paloh, and the government.
One of the academics who deemed the awarding of the title inappropriate was Slamet Thohari, a lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at Universitas Brawijaya. Since early 2022, he has been pursuing his doctoral studies at Western Sydney University in Australia through the Australia Awards Scholarship program.
According to him, the title was undeserved given Soeharto’s poor track record, particularly concerning gross human rights violations and other abuses that occurred during the authoritarian New Order regime—many of which remain unresolved to this day.
Slamet Thohari emphasized that a true hero is someone willing to sacrifice for the greater good, even at the cost of personal loss or suffering. However, he argued that Soeharto instead prioritized his own interests, along with those of his cronies and business networks.
Slamet Thohari Ph.D. at Western Sydney University, focusing on rural women with disabilities. Worked on disability-related projects funded by The Asia Foundation, USAID, Ford Foundation, DFAT, and the British Council, Indonesian goverment.
Some of the human rights violations mentioned include:
- Events 65 and 66,
- Mysterious shooter, 1982-1985,
- Invasion of East Timor, in which many lives were lost as a result of the colonization, 1975
- The events of Tanjung Priok, the burning of civilians, followed by Muslim protests that were violently dispersed and hundreds of people were killed as a result of the protests.
- Talang Fari Events in Lampung,
- An offence of racism, against Chinese citizens who are not allowed to express their culture. At its peak was the events of May 98 which resulted in many citizens of Indonesian ethnic Chinese background, fleeing and settling overseas such as Australia.
According to Slamet Thohari, the awarding of the hero title reflects an underlying agenda intended to make Indonesians to forget significant historical events or accept wrongdoings that should neither be forgiven nor erased.
He argued that cases of human rights violations must be thoroughly investigated, and if it is proven that the government was complicit, an official apology should be issued.
He cited a similar example from the Netherlands, which once apologized to the Indonesian people. Following the apology, the Dutch government also promoted education and public awareness to ensure such incidents would not recur.
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