Weep not for Indonesia's former president Suharto who died today at the age of 86. Suharto's iron-fisted rule bought economic growth but also ushered in nepotism and corruption. And Suharto's legacy of corruption and shady business dealings go back a long way.
In the 1950s, he was allegedly involved in sugar smuggling which some said cost him command of an army division during a 1959 anticorruption drive. Suharto claims that he bartered sugar for rice to ease a local food shortage and did not benefit personally. Still, he was transferred to a less influential position at the army staff college.
It is said Suharto through his rule cultivated a network of wealthy allies, many in the ethnic Chinese business community. He did this through a system of rewards and punishments administered by the state.
Suharto's nepotism and corruption was well known. reached epic proportions, culminating in a national car project awarded to Suharto's youngest and most beloved son, Tommy. According to anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International, Suharto and his family may have amassed as much as $35 billion during his reign and the independent organization today still ranks Indonesia as one of Asia's most corrupt countries.
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