INDONESIA: Suharto's Puppet Show

Indonesians sometimes view their political power struggles as a kind of wayang, the traditional all-night puppet show in which the villains die at dawn. For four main players in President Suharto's government, dawn finally came last week. All were generals, and two of them—Ali Murtopo and Sudjono Humardani—were members of the hated Aspri, the influential kitchen cabinet. One non-Aspri was General Sutomo Yuwono, head of the internal intelligence agency. The other was General Sumitro, boss of the security force Kopkamtib. Suharto stripped him of the Kopkamtib command and took personal charge...

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