Mohammed Suharto and Macbeth William Shakespeare Wrote

Mohammed Suharto and Macbeth

William Shakespeare wrote Macbeth to be one of his most important epic plays, reaching into the darkest aspects of mankind and offering no redemption to his hero in the end. At first a loyal general, Macbeth sees power as something that is in his grasp, and with the right amount of pressure, he seizes this power by killing King Duncan. (Shakespeare, 1611) In the end, Macbeth was punished for the evil that he committed, and did not remain King for long. The power unbalance that Macbeth sets forth can be compared to Mohammed Suharto's take over of Indonesia in 1965. Suharto, like Macbeth, was power hungry, and believed that he knew what was the best way to govern, and would do anything possible to prove it.

In several ways, the life of Mohammed Suharto can be directly placed over the story of Macbeth. The same tragic ending of King Duncan is likened to that of Sukarno, who was overthrown in 1965 at the height of problems in South East Asia. In the late 1950s, the struggle between Indonesia and Malaysia had just begun, and the Muslim rulers of Indonesia did not want to succumb to Communist PKI. The political turmoil of Indonesia was unraveling. With the help of Islamists, the military and Sukarno were able to crush the PKI and effectively crushed the Communist threat in Indonesia. After this short-lived victory, however, Sukarno was not expecting a challenge from the inside to his own power, much like King Duncan in Macbeth.

Suharto quickly consolidated power after his take over in the 1960s, and despite the fact that many thought he would be a short-term ruler and that power would be transferred over after he stepped down, this did not happen for three decades. (New York Times, 2008) Suharto was able to guide Indonesia into an industrial revolution, and was capable enough of a leader to make sure that the country was stronger when he retired than when he started. This part of Suharto's story does not reflect the end of Macbeth's life, Macbeth, however, did want to improve on the land ultimately and was only unraveled by his own evil method of acquiring power.

Macbeth did not last long as King, but he did gain power and hold on to it for as long as possible, just like Mohammed Suharto. Suharto finally resigned in 1998 due to the catastrophe of the Asian financial crisis that swept through all of the emerging markets in that region. Indonesia's currency had plummeted, foreign investment dried up, and massive layoffs brought devastation to the cities of Indonesia. Protests broke out, and instead of trying to violently oppress them, like what is happening in Syria, Suharto decided to step down and retire. (Time, 2008) The vice-president, Habibie, then became president, and had to handle the problems that had amassed during the long administration of Suharto.