Soeharto, 2nd President of Indonesia, Dies At 86

Innaalillaahi wa innaa ilayhi rooji'uun. To Allah we belong, and to Him our return. Soeharto who ruled in Indonesia for 30 years (1968-1998) dies today at Pertamina Hospital, Jakarta at 13:10 WIB (western Indonesia time).

We thank Soeharto greatly for his merits to the country. His biggest merit was to sweeping away communism from Indonesia. He brought economic development to the country. He had great interest on agriculture. He developed roads, telecommunication, electricity and other infrastructure throughout Indonesia. He built schools, health centers and other public facilities for the people.

However, with his military background, during his repressive era, Soeharto didn't give his critics many chances to speak out. He paralysed the life of his opponents. And he let his children and cronies involved in all kinds of business that seemed he built 'Soeharto dynasty'. Remember "lengser keprabon" (javanese words for ending the reign), Soeharto's words in commenting about succession to the presidency?

Indonesian should forgive Soeharto's mistakes, considering all his merits. But, the generations to come shouldn't forget the mistakes in order not to repeat the same mistakes again. May his soul rest in peace.

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Before New Year

Happy New Year 2008 and Happy New (Moslem) Year 1429H! May this year be better than the previous years. May Allah The Almighty forgives us for our wrongdoings and sins. And May Allah loves us more.

Some occasions happened before New Year and New Islamic Year. A friend of mine, Boto Simatupang, got his doctoral degree from Faculty of Economy - University of Indonesia on late December 2007. Congratulation to Boto for the awesome achievement! I met Pras and Tommy when attending Boto's doctoral degree promotion. So, among us PL'80, there are 5 6 guys who hold doctoral degree: Heru, Rempu, Eko, Bobby, Hadi and Boto. Who will follow them?

And before New Islamic Year, there were two new born babies in the neighborhood. Congratulations to families of the new babies! My friends and I visited the mommies and babies at their respective house. Welcome to the neighorhood, cute babies. Enjoy life here!