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(#11) Suharto
- Dec. at 87 (1921-2008)
The former Indonesian strongman has been called the most corrupt leader in modern history, ransacking his country for anywhere between $15 and $35 billion. How did he do it? One way was by setting up a complex system of kickbacks from state-owned companies that he handed over to family members and cronies. The money was "donated" from these companies to dozens of fake charitable foundations that Suharto set up, and that he would simply use as bank accounts to fund his lavish spending.
Even businesses that the strongman didn't own were expected to pony up, and wealthy Indonesians had a forced tithe, all of which supposedly went to help alleviate poverty and build hospitals, but really went to help buy a rich guy more stuff.
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(#1) Saddam Hussein
- Dec. at 69 (1937-2006)
Saddam spent lavishly on pretty much everything one can purchase, from gold toilets to cheetahs. But what Saddam collected more than anything else were palaces to hold the crap he bought. He had anywhere from 70 to 100 monstrous mansions built - one in every major Iraqi city. Just his eight main palaces held over 1,000 buildings and covered 12 square miles.
Built over two decades, they were given to party flunkies, family members, and mistresses, and each one was ornately built out of the finest marble, gold, and artwork. The palaces sit mostly in disrepair now, with some used by the US Army and others abandoned.
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(#10) Kim Jong-un
- 36
Despite only being in power since 2011, the youngest North Korean Dear Leader has more than made up for lost time with his spending. Watchers of the Hermit Kingdom estimate that Kim is blowing nearly a billion dollars a year - more than the GDP of North Korea itself. Besides the usual (dozens of cars, a yacht, a ski resort, countless gallons of booze, Danish pork, Iranian caviar, etc), Kim has reportedly bought at least three dozen grand pianos.
Does Kim even play the piano? Nobody actually knows. But he's spending millions on them, while his country prepares for yet another famine.
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(#2) Kim Jong-il
- Dec. at 70 (1941-2011)
North Korea's dictator from 1994 to 2011 spent hugely on luxury goods, as well as 30,000 DVDs and tapes of Hollywood films. But Kim also collected something you couldn't put a price on: titles. As leader of a cult of personality, Kim's name was never to be mentioned without official superlatives. And there were a lot.
According to The Economist, Kim died with over 1,200 different titles bestowed on him, from variations on "dear leader" (great, brilliant, unique, etc.) to military honors that he didn't earn ("Glorious General, Who Descended From Heaven") to operatic nonsense like "Eternal Bosom of Hot Love," "Master of the Computer Who Surprised the World," and "Guardian Deity of the Planet." Even in death, he kept piling up titles, being named "Eternal General Secretary of the Party" in 2012.
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(#5) Muammar al-Gaddafi
- Dec. at 69 (1942-2011)
Like a real life Goldfinger, Gaddafi loved the glittery stuff. His palaces were stuffed with golden trappings, from railings to cutlery to toilets. He even had a gold-dipped flyswatter. But when the Libyan dictator was captured and killed by rebels, he was found with a gold-plated Browning 9mm pistol - an item that perfectly summed up his opulent brutality.
As it turned out, the 9mm was just one of a number of gold-plated guns the dictator owned (the weapons weren't actually made of gold, which is too soft to withstand the violent recoil of a gun being fired). Many others were found at Gaddafi's compound, including a Makarov pistol and several rifles. But the most over-the-top is a diamond-and-jewel encrusted Beretta featuring countless gems, as well as the dictator's name written in tiny stones above a rearing horse.
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(#6) Idi Amin
- Dec. at 78 (1925-2003)
The vicious Ugandan tyrant was looked on with equal parts terror and derision - and both for good reasons. After seizing power in 1971, Amin began festooning himself with a chest full of medals reflecting a brilliant military career - which he didn't have. Amin collected fake citations for bravery the way other people collect shot glasses, awarding himself with honors he never won, or that didn't exist.
By the end of his reign, he was referring to himself as "His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular." Needless to say, he never won the Victoria Cross (making up his own version called a "Victorious Cross"), Distinguished Service Order, or the Military Cross - all of which were the highest military awards in the British Empire. Oh, and he wasn't a doctor, either.
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About This Tool
When obsessed with something to a certain extent, people often can't help but become collectors. Some people like to collect sand from all over the world, as well as cat whiskers, beer bottle caps, etc. Obviously, these are not the strangest collecting hobbies in the world. Believe it or not, celebrities also have quirky collections, and many famous world dictators collect unusual things.
Attachment to objects is human nature, but some people get soothed by collecting strange things. Some cruel and arbitrary dictators also have unexpected collecting habits. The random tool lists 11 dictators who collected bizarre things, which few people know.
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