Jakarta. Culture Minister Fadli Zon has proposed granting national hero titles to two former presidents -- Soeharto and Abdurrahman Wahid, better known as Gus Dur -- as part of a list of 49 nominees submitted to President Prabowo Subianto.

Fadli, who also chairs the Council for Titles, Decorations, and Honors, said the proposal includes several prominent historical figures, among them Marsinah, a labor activist from Nganjuk, East Java, and Ali Sadikin, the reformist former governor of Jakarta.

“These names have met the criteria for consideration, including President Soeharto, who has been nominated three times before,” Fadli told reporters after meeting Prabowo at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The nominations are part of an annual process leading up to National Heroes Day, observed on November 10. Candidates are typically proposed by communities and vetted through research and evaluation teams at the district, provincial, and ministerial levels before reaching the council.

According to Fadli, this year’s submission includes 40 new names and nine carried over from previous years, with 24 considered high priority based on historical contributions and scholarly review.

However, the inclusion of Soeharto -- Indonesia’s second president, who ruled for 32 years under an authoritarian regime -- has reignited long-standing national debate.

Golkar Party, which was founded and rose to dominance under Soeharto’s rule, continues to support the proposal. In contrast, human rights activists and the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) have firmly rejected it, citing the repressive nature of Soeharto’s government.

PDI-P politician Guntur Romli said honoring Soeharto would distort the country’s historical narrative. “If Soeharto is made a national hero, then the students who led the 1998 reform movement that forced him to resign would be seen as villains and traitors. That cannot be justified,” he told Kompas.

While Gus Dur -- the country’s fourth president known for promoting pluralism and democracy -- is widely respected across political lines, Soeharto’s nomination remains one of Indonesia’s most divisive issues, reflecting the nation’s ongoing struggle to reconcile its authoritarian past with its democratic present.

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