Not such a bad cove really
Remember Suharto, the right-wing dictator who slaughtered millions during his time in charge of Indonesia? Well, now he's about to snuff it, he was all right really, according to the 'liberal-leftists' of the BBC.
Suharto took power in 1966 and ruled Indonesia with an iron fist for 32 years. He and his family deny reports that they stole billions of dollars while he was in power.
I'm interested in how that's phrased. It's not "He has been accused of stealing billions of dollars" - it's "he denied stealing billions of dollars". His view is the dominant one in the sentence. Any mentions of where the money did go? No. But there is a link in the article to Suharto claiming he'd give libel money to the poor. Did he? We don't know. We just know that he said he would give the money to the poor. Sounds like a cuddly old uncle, doesn't he!
And Suharto's timeline is interestingly phrased as well:
- Comes to power in 1965 after alleged Communist coup attempt
- Formally replaces Sukarno as president in March 1967
- Modernisation programmes in the 70s and 80s raise living standards
- East Timor invaded in late 1975
- Asian economic crisis of the 1990s hits Indonesian economy
- Spiralling prices and discontent force him to resign in May 1998
But as FAIR pointed out many years ago, there is 'good genocide' and 'bad genocide'. Pol Pot = bad. Suharto = 'raised living standards' with no mention of genocide in the same article. If Pol Pot had been described as having 'raised living standards', there'd rightly be uproar.
Suharto's obituaries are being written as we speak. Will the 'liberal-left' media such as the BBC and the Guardian tear into one of the 20th century's greatest unpunished criminals? Or will they wishily-washily skate around his crimes and say he 'raised living standards' (for the privileged few who weren't getting massacred, tortured or jailed?) See, not such a bad cove after all, was he? Eh? Mustn't grumble!
No related posts.
Buy my book, it’s great
Switch site
Donate
Recent Posts
- Cheerio, cheerio, cheerio…
- Children died
- The letters you never get around to sending
- Applying again
- I just sent Robin round – 2
Most Commented On
Recent Comments
- Iain on Applying again
- Roger on The letters you never get around to sending
- Dave Hodgkinson on The letters you never get around to sending
- droid on The letters you never get around to sending
- Rogue_Leader on The letters you never get around to sending
About Me
Hello. I'm a Bristol-based writer and soon-to-be-redundant journalist. You can read more about me and the Enemies site here, or follow me on Twitter. Email me if you like - antonvowl at live dot co dot uk
If you're struggling to read the site please use the drop down box below to increase the text size.
January 9th, 2008 - 12:43
Seumas Milne argues in the Guardian that the existence of Stalin ‘raised welfare benefits’ in the West, in other words he uses very dubious sophistry to justify one of the greatest criminals in history; he did this recently – didn’t see you bleating. Could it be that only ‘right-wing dictators’ get your juices flowing?
January 9th, 2008 - 13:22
I’m happy to redress the balance. Stalin was an evil, bad man. Every time someone else says he wasn’t that bad, take it as read that, even though I actually didn’t read that particular article, I psychically send through my disapproval to you. If you would like me to write something knocking Stalin every time some idiot says he wasn’t that bad, I’m happy to do so. Just let me know. I don’t think I’ve ever defended Stalin here, nope, no I haven’t. In fact I only didn’t comment on what Milne wrote because I didn’t know about it. had I read it, I would have done so, because that kind of ignorance gives the left a bad name. So thank you for bringing it to my attention. And no, it’s not just right-wing dictators that are bad men or do things. As I pointed out in the article (which presumably you read), Pol Pot was a bad man too.
I hope this has cleared things up for you.