Former Indonesian president Suharto laid to rest

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2008

MATESIH, Indonesia (AFP) — Former Indonesian president Suharto was laid to rest with full military honours Monday, ending a controversial chapter in the history of the nation he ruled with an iron fist for 32 years.

The ex-dictator, whose rule became a byword for rampant corruption and rights abuses despite huge economic progress, was buried at a family mausoleum in the town of Matesih.

Hundreds of mourners gathered along the flag-lined road leading to the mausoleum on the main island of Java with many expressing nostalgia for the Suharto era.

"I think Pak Harto thought of the people," a 53-year-old woman named Mariani told AFP, using the respectful name by which Suharto was known.

"Everything was cheap, now things are expensive."

Inside the...