Piecing the Puzzle of Young Suharto

David Jenkins, the Australian journalist who was once barred from entering Indonesia in the New Order era, has launched his newest book Young Soeharto, The Making of a Soldier, 1921–1945. The book zooms in on Suharto’s childhood and teenage years, and then explores his early career in the Dutch army and the Japanese police. It reveals many new facts.

Isma Savitri

September 27, 2021

BEFORE it was renovated, the square house was about five meters long. Its old wooden frame had woven bamboo walls. However, this was then: now it has been replaced by a big building with ample parking space for plenty of cars. In the Kemusuk village, Bantul, Yogyakarta, former President Suharto was born.

In the past, Kemusuk was a quiet hamlet. The village only had simple houses and a traditional market. Its red earth was moist. The rice fields

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