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Article: The Titans In Their Twilight.(World Affairs)(Suharto, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Mahathir Mohammad and Lee Kuan Yew)
- Article from:
- Newsweek International
- Article date:
- February 4, 2008
- Author:
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Byline: George Wehrfritz; With Jonathan Adams in Taipei
As Southeast Asia's prototypical strongman nears death, Indonesia sets the tone for an uncertain era.
They were the titans of their time: larger-than-life figures who, through skill and force of personality, built their homelands into modern states, lifted their populations from poverty and defended them from threats foreign and domestic. They were once so powerful they almost seemed immortal. Yet the end is finally approaching for the strongmen of Southeast Asia. Indonesia's Suharto, 86, is grievously ill; Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 80, is frail, and Malaysia's Mahathir Mohammad, 82, ...