Today in Jakarta, the former president of Indonesia, Mr. Suharto passed away from multi-organ failure at the age of 86. This is pretty big news in light of some of the things that happened during his 32-year presidency. Some people have labeled him as a dictator and charged him with corruption. Others have spoken somewhat positively of him in light of the fact that he is credited with bringing Indonesia out of economic chaos into relative prosperity.
I am reminded of how his presidency ended with the riots that occurred in Jakarta back in May 1998 (some call it the Indonesian 1998 Revolution). The interesting part of the riots is that it was started on the college campuses.
This is another reminder for me that many revolutions have started on college campuses around the world, therefore the need to reach the campuses to reach nations is great.
Indonesia has a population of 235 million people (4th largest in the world) with roughly 700 ethnic groups spread over 17,500 islands. This is becoming one of the greatest harvest fields. I am praying that God will raise up people from our church who will go and share the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Here are various news outlets regarding Suharto’s death: