The Magic of Alex: the Afterglow

Former Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer reviews former Indonesian dictator Suharto’s record:

Mr Downer said Indonesia’s treatment of East Timor was always a thorn in the relationship.

“We were plagued of course ... with the issue of East Timor,” he said.

“And of course president Suharto will have to live with that as part of his record as well.”

Memo Alex: Not only has Suharto not been president for almost ten years, he’s also no longer in a position to “live with” anything. It’s the Timorese and Indonesians who have to live with it.

And apparently the record of one of the world’s great kleptocrats escaped Alex’s attention:

Mr Downer said Australia was not aware of the full extent of corruption under Suharto’s rule.

He said human rights abuses in East Timor were discussed, but corruption did not feature in the dialogue between the two countries.

“We didn’t know too much about the level of corruption, but we knew about the human rights record,” he said.

Gee. If the Suharto Gravy Train didn’t rate in Alex’s perceptions, then small wonder that AWB malfeasance in the Iraq oil-for-food scandal passed him by.

What had the Australian people been paying Alex for, all those years?