when suharto died, i was kinda amazed at the reaction of the country. so many people came to his funeral and came to pray for him. it’s quite surprising, considering the fact that during his time, Indonesia has so many, shall we say, “unhappy” memories. and i found out about several surprising things on the day of his funeral.
first off, one guy at work was actually absent that day to watch his funeral procession. when i heard that, i was like, “you’re absent to do what???” (not to mention the fact that he actually said that exact reason to the boss. i mean, come on, i don’t think there is any company in the whole world who would give leave to any of their workers to watch Suharto’s funeral..?? he should have just said that he was sick.)
and that’s not the only surprise for the day. another guy called in saying he’s gonna be late. and guess what?? it was because he was attending a takziah (basically like praying together) for suharto at his housing complex. :shock: i was dumbfounded when i heard that. so I asked him when he got to the office, “why did you guys hold a takziah for suharto?” “well, as fellow moslems, we should pray for him, right?”. and i was, ookayy then..
when i told my friend about it and how i thought it was an absurd thing, she said,
“but it is true. as fellow moslems, it’s better if we pray for him”.
“but i don’t think they did it for that reason. i think the actual reason was because the one who died was suharto.” “if it really is so, then they should be holding a takziah each time a moslem died, right?”
she countered, “i don’t think so. we only hold takziah for someone we know, right? and so since they knew suharto, they held it for him.”
“well, i see takziah as an event to pray for the one who passed away. meaning if i go to a takziah, i want to pray for the person whom we are holding it to. and i honestly have no wish to pray for suharto.” i answered.
and she was veeery taken aback to hear that (and I was surprised that she WAS taken aback). “you’re more cruel than i am then. at least i felt a bit sad when suharto died.”
i replied, “i don’t think i’m cruel. if i’m cruel, i would have been delighted and celebrating when i heard that he died. i wasn’t happy. nor was i sad. i simply didn’t care. and when you reflect on the bad things he did to this country, i don’t think you can call me cruel for that”.
bottom line, i was mystified by the number of people who came to his funeral. or are all the sympathies and mournings simply because he used to be a strongman in Indonesia? because i personally think most Indonesian are almost always infatuated with someone having enormous power. perhaps they hate him so to the point of being obsessed (teteupp ngotot kalo suharto itu patutnya dibenci..  :twisted:  ).
or perhaps it is because suharto’s death is a national event. i mean, it was covered by the media, both local and foreign. i guess being able to say to your children “i was there” is something to be proud of :roll: