Many Indonesians have praised his 31-year regime for its economic development, rapid industrialisation, and perceived political stability, while others have denounced his dictatorial rule, extensive human rights violations and alleged corruption.

[15] Difficulties in paying the fees for his education in Wonogiri resulted in another move back to his father in Kemusuk, where he continued studying at a lower-fee Schakel Muhammadiyah (middle school) in the city of Yogyakarta until 1938.

It earned him the respect of Lieutenant-Colonel Sunarto Kusumodirjo, who invited him to draft the working guidelines for the Battle Leadership Headquarters (MPP), a body created to organize and unify the command structure of the Indonesian Nationalist forces.

Within the Javanese upper class, it was considered acceptable for the wife to pursue genteel commerce[clarification needed] to supplement the family budget, allowing her husband to keep his dignity in his official role.

His relationship with prominent businessmen Liem Sioe Liong and Bob Hasan, which extended throughout his presidency, began in Central Java, where he was involved in a series of "profit-generating" enterprises conducted primarily to keep the poorly funded military unit functioning.

Fearful that the Konfrontasi would leave Java thinly covered by the army and hand control to the 2 million-strong Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), he authorised a Kostrad intelligence officer, Ali Murtopo, to open secret contacts with the British and Malaysians.

[48][page needed] While Sukarno devoted his energy for domestic and international politics, the economy of Indonesia deteriorated rapidly with worsening widespread poverty and hunger, while foreign debt obligations became unmanageable and infrastructure crumbled.

He mobilised Kostrad and RPKAD (now Kopassus) special forces to seize control of the centre of Jakarta, capturing key strategic sites including the radio station without resistance.

[54] The army in alliance with civilian religious groups, and backed by the United States and other Western powers, led a campaign of mass killings to purge Indonesian society, government, and armed forces of the Communist Party of Indonesia and other leftist organizations.

For eighteen months following the quashing of the 30 September Movement, there was a complicated process of political manoeuvres against Sukarno, including student agitation, stacking of parliament, media propaganda and military threats.

In 1967, generals Hartono Rekso Dharsono, Kemal Idris, and Sarwo Edhie Wibowo (dubbed "New Order radicals") opposed Suharto's decision to allow participation of existing political parties in elections in favour of a non-ideological two-party system similar to those found in many Western countries.

The regime responded by imprisoning many student activists (such as future national figures Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti, Adnan Buyung Nasution, Hariman Siregar, and Syahrir), and even sending troops to occupy the campus of ITB (Bandung Institute of Technology) from January–March 1978.

After initially considering alignment with Sukarno's old party, the PNI, in 1969 Suharto decided to take over control of an obscure military-run federation of NGOs called Golkar ("Functional Groups") and transform it into his electoral vehicle under the coordination of his right-hand man Ali Murtopo.

Suharto also proceeded with various social engineering projects designed to transform Indonesian society into a de-politicised "floating mass" supportive of the national mission of "development", a concept similar to corporatism.

Suharto authorised Operasi Trisula which destroyed PKI remnants trying to organize a guerrilla base in the Blitar area in 1968 and ordered several military operations that ended the communist PGRS-Paraku insurgency in West Kalimantan (1967–1972).

[88] Notably, in March 1981, Suharto authorised a successful special forces mission to end hijacking of a Garuda Indonesia flight by Islamic extremists at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok.

[90] To stabilise the economy and to ensure long-term support for the New Order, Suharto's administration enlisted a group of mostly US-educated Indonesian economists, dubbed the "Berkeley Mafia", to formulate significant changes in economic policy.

[15][92][94] Outside the formal economy, Suharto created a network of charitable organizations ("yayasan") run by the military and his family members, which extracted "donations" from domestic and foreign enterprises in exchange for necessary government support and permits.

[96][page needed] Upon assuming power, Suharto's government adopted a policy of neutrality in the Cold War but was nevertheless quietly aligned with the Western bloc (including Japan and South Korea) to secure support for Indonesia's economic recovery.

However, from 1967 to 1970 foreign minister Adam Malik managed to secure several agreements to restructure massive debts incurred by Sukarno from the Soviet Union and other Eastern European communist states.

After an unsuccessful attempt of covert support to Timorese groups UDT and APODETI, Suharto authorised a full-scale invasion of the colony on 7 December 1975 followed with its official annexation as Indonesia's 27th province of East Timor in July 1976.

The "encirclement and annihilation" campaigns of 1977–1979 broke the back of Fretilin control over the hinterlands, although continuing guerrilla resistance caused the government to maintain a strong military force in the half-island until 1999.

[98] To comply with the New York Agreement of 1962 which required a plebiscite on the integration of West Irian into Indonesia before the end of 1969, the Suharto government begin organizing for a so-called "Act of Free Choice" scheduled for July–August 1969.

The sudden availability of credit fuelled robust economic growth in the early 1990s, but the weak regulatory environment of the financial sector sowed the seeds of the catastrophic crisis in 1997, which eventually lead to the end of Suharto's presidency.

Setting aside $9 billion earned from interest on deposits, three-fourths of this wealth was derived from grabbing the country's oil, gas, and mining resources, or muscling in on state corporations and major government contracts.

In the 1990s, elements within the growing Indonesian middle class created by Suharto's economic development were becoming restless with his autocracy and the corruption of his children, fuelling demands for "Reformasi" (reform) of the almost 30-year-old New Order government.

In mid-December, as the crisis swept through Indonesia and an estimated $150 billion of capital was being withdrawn from the country, he appeared at a press conference to re-assert his authority and to urge people to trust the government and the collapsing rupiah.

Theories on the origin of the violence include rivalry between military chief General Wiranto and Army Strategic Commander Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto, and the suggestion of deliberate provocation by Suharto to divert blame for the crisis to the ethnic-Chinese and discredit the student movement.

[139][140][3] Minutes after his death, then-Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono held a news conference declaring Suharto as one of Indonesia's "best sons" and invited the country to give the highest respect and honour to the ex-president.

[147] As an officer in the Indonesian Army (1940–1974), and then as president of Indonesia (1967–1998), he received several civilian and military Star Decorations from Indonesia, namely:[148] In addition, he also received several foreign decorations:[148] Argentina: Austria: Belgium: Brunei: Cambodia: Egypt: Ethiopia: France: Iran: Italy: Japan: Jordan: Kuwait: Malaysia: Mexico: Netherlands: Pakistan: Philippines: Qatar: Romania: Saudi Arabia: Singapore: South Africa: South Korea: Spain: Syria: Thailand: Tunisia: Ukraine: United Arab Emirates : United Kingdom: Venezuela: West Germany: Yemen: Yugoslavia: Suharto's childhood house in Kemusuk is currently a memorial museum, called Memorial Jenderal Besar HM Soeharto.