Sander Thoenes Award - ArticlesIn 1966, Major General Suharto sent a wreath to the funeral of Arif Rachman Hakim, a student who had been killed in clashes with the palace guards of the then President Sukarno. The killing whipped up popular support for the protesting students and allowed Mr Suharto, whose public stance earned him the nickname of “the smiling general”, to overthrow and replace Sukarno.
Mr Suharto has yet to send a wreath to the parents of the six students who were shot in a mysterious incident on Tuesday, just as peaceful student protesters prepared to return to their campus. Nor has any ambitious rival general. But the student killing has proved an eerie rerun of 1966. Except it is worse.
