Indonesian Dictator's Convicted Murderer Son To Run For Office

Umer Jamshaid Published July 20, 2018 | 04:17 PM

Indonesian dictator Suharto's youngest son -- who was convicted of ordering the assassination of a supreme court judge -- will run for a seat in parliament, his political party said Friday.

Jakarta, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Jul, 2018 ) :Indonesian dictator Suharto's youngest son -- who was convicted of ordering the assassination of a supreme court judge -- will run for a seat in parliament, his political party said Friday.

Tommy Suharto, 56, wants to represent the eastern province of Papua, a region annexed by his father in the late Sixties following a UN-backed referendum widely criticized.

Papua, on the western half of New Guinea island, has since grappled with an insurgency aimed at winning independence from Jakarta.

Suharto's son will run in the April polls under his Berkarya Party, said a senior party official, who added that Papuans themselves called for him to run for office.

"That's the request of the people there," Badaruddin Andi Picunang told AFP.

"Mr. Suharto (Tommy Suharto's father) liberated Papua. Mr. Tommy loves Papua and he wants to represent the people."Picunang dismissed suggestions that some in Papua are not fans of Tommy Suharto or his late father's annexation of the region.

"There will always be positive and negative views, but we're just looking at the positive," he said.