Over Soeharto ‘Last Supper’ Cover in Tempo Magazine: Merely Art or an Offense to Christianity?

Controversies have been going on over the cover of Tempo magazine, a weekly published in Indonesia. The cover depicts the late former Indonesian president, Soeharto in a round table eating dinner with his children mimicking Leonardo Da Vinci’s last supper painting. The cover which was initially used to mirror the main issue covered, which was the legacy of Soeharto after his death, has gained numerous protests from the Christian movements (Mahaputra, 2008). Tempo editor in-chief, Toriq Hadad, has addressed public apology two days after the magazine released explaining that the cover was not initiated to offense any religions.

Image of Suharto and family in Tempo Magazine

(source : www.asiaone.com)

It is understandable that people might be offended by this cover image as Soeharto’s crimes that have been well-covered during his presidency have been revealed since the Reformation era. Governing for more than 32 years, he, himself, is a living controversy. Some Indonesians still adore him as the one who achieve a welfare Indonesia, whereas the educated people sees him as a dictator that has deceived his people and misused their trust, proven by the abundant debts to IMF after he left and the May Tragedy that could be considered as an effort to Indonesian-Chinese ethnic cleansing. To see more of Soeharto’s history, click here.

The question would be, is it merely art or a heartless offense to Christianity? This question is to be answered with comparison between visualization issues in Islam and Christian. While Islamic rules do not allow anyone to visualize any prophets or figures in Al Qur’an, Christians’ do. The reason from the Muslims would be that everyone could have their own and most suitable image of prophets, as prophets are seen as more than just human, they are the symbols of peace, love, and sacredness. Whereas Christian figures such as Jesus Christ has been interpreted in different ways since the era of Leonardo da Vinci, and there are various version of Jesus’ image, be it the African-American one or the Chinese one. That is why some Indonesian moderates see this issue as a merely piece of art rather than an offense to Christianity (Kompas, 2009). In conclusion, there is never an absolute truth while interpreting such images, different people might interpret it differently according to their own knowledge and believed values (Schirato & Yell, 1996).