Nostalgia for former President Suharto is far from new. But around Yogya it is still very visible. A large number of becaks and lorries bear pictures of an avuncular-looking Suharto, accompanied by Javanese captions along the lines of "How's it going? My era was good, wasn't it?" (One of my students observed -- quite rightly, I think -- that you don't see these pictures outside Java. But we stand to be corrected on that.)

I don't think this means Indonesians want to return to the human rights abuses and lack of freedom of the Suharto era. But a large number are certainly disillusioned with many aspects of democracy: with corruption, with what they see as weak leadership, and with ongoing personal economic struggles that are at odds with the nation's impressive growth rates.

In this context, as Andy Fuller notes, a visit to the Memorial Jenderal Besar H.M. Soeharto is very interesting. The memorial -- in the village of Kemusuk, just outside Yogya, where Suharto was born -- was opened only a few months ago. The exterior is dignified, the interior bright and shiny, the electronic displays technically sophisticated. Entrance is free. On this Saturday morning, there was a steady flow of people making their way round. Merely curious, like us? Or more reverential? Hard to say.

A huge statue of Suharto greets you as you come through the broad gates. In front of you is a spacious pendopo, featuring another large bust and a rolling piece of documentary. To the left is the museum, its outer terrace featuring a family tree, as well as various handwritten endorsements dating from the time of the memorial's inauguration.

You then enter what is visually and auditorily a very "busy" museum. Still pictures compete with moving images. Various soundtracks compete with background music. The effect is a little phantasmagorical.

But the story is simple. We open with much emphasis on Suharto's military role in the campaigns to defeat the Dutch and reclaim "Irian Jaya". Then, of course, we have the "Communist coup" attempt of 1965. We have been prepared for this by multiple images of Communist misdeeds dating back to Madiun, and of popular demands for the dissolution of the Communist Party. By positioning yourself on the "bloody footsteps", you trigger grisly footage of the exhumation of the murdered generals from Lubang Buaya. Their sculpted figures float ethereally in a glass case behind you.

After Suharto's arrival in power, things move very quickly. Suddenly, we are in a final gallery of photos. Right and left we witness the president variously riding horses, holding a large fish, giving his blessing to Indonesia's pioneering aircraft industry, or meeting foreign dignitaries. Finally, we have photos of the funeral.

In front of us now, however, is the shiny pendopo and the saluting bust. Gone, but not forgotten, they seem to say.

As Fuller points out, there is no reference to the wave of killings that targeted suspected Communists in 1965-66, or to the huge outpouring of public anger that forced the president from power in 1998... These events are not part of the story the Memorial sets out to tell. This is the story of a Suharto who is simply strong and good.

Across the road from the gates, you can (and we did) have bakso -- right under the eye of the General, as it were. A little further along the road, you can (but we didn't) purchase a nostalgic T-shirt.

On the way home, relieving the oppressive heat of the day with a cooling es tape, we pondered what we had just seen. Who, in the presidential elections next year, can harness the "Suharto longing", with all that lies behind it, and transform it into a vision of leadership that is strong and charismatic, yet still clean, fair, and democratic?