well yes, because south korea was a shining example of democracy, along with indonesia...
Indonesia was bad under Sukarno, but became worse under Suharto. When he took power in the mid ‘60s, they committed a massacre against approximately half a million ethnic Chinese. Holy shit. They said it was because they were communist party members. Which may have been true in some cases (not that it justifies it) but it was primarily ethnic hatred and resentment because some of the Chinese were merchants and better off than average.
And then in 1975, Indonesia invaded East Timor. And over the following years, out of a starting Timorese population of about 600,000, Indonesia went on to kill between a sixth and a third. And because Indonesia was a cold war ally, we continued to support them, minimum questions asked at best. It is hard to escape the conclusion, that on this one, my country the United States actively participated in genocide.
Obviously, all this shit hurts economic development.
And yes, I do like to focus on the cheerier subjects of building a middle class, expanding medical professions other than just doctors, successfully running multi-path in education, expanding civil and voting rights, etc.