Indonesia's Suharto has state funeral in royal city

GIRIBANGUN, Indonesia (Reuters) - Former Indonesian president Suharto, whose 32 years in power were marred by graft and rights abuses, was buried near the royal city of Solo in a state funeral with full military honors on Monday.

Tens of thousands of people lined the roads in Jakarta and around Solo in Central Java, hoping to catch a glimpse of the former general's funeral procession.

The body was flown from the capital to Solo, then driven to the family mausoleum at Giribangun, 35 km (21 miles) northeast of the city, close to the burial grounds of Solo's kings.

Ousted in 1998 in a student-led protest amid social and economic chaos, Suharto died in hospital on Sunday aged 86 after suffering multiple organ failure.

Praised by many as a visionary who helped modernize his country, he was also heavily criticized for widespread corruption and human rights abuses.

"Father is only human, who has weaknesses and strengths and is not exempted from mistakes. If he has done good, may Allah multiply the goodness. If he has made mistakes, may Allah forgive," Suharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hadijanti Rukmana, also known as Tutut, said at the funeral.

"To ladies and gentlemen, if father has made any mistakes, please forgive him. Farewell father," she said, tears running down her face.

INTO THE GRAVE

Suharto's coffin was lowered into his grave, next to that of his wife, who died in 1996, and one salvo was fired at the funeral ceremony.

It was led by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and attended by senior leaders and diplomats including Singapore Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar and the U.S. ambassador.

Mahathir Mohamad, the 82-year-old former prime minister of Malaysia whose time in office overlapped Suharto's, also attended the funeral.

"I on behalf of the nation and the Indonesian military, surrender the body and soul of Haji Muhammad Suharto to the soil of the motherland," said Yudhoyono.

Tens of thousands of people, many with handheld TV cameras and cellphone cameras in their hands, turned out to see the funeral procession. Some waved as the hearse went by, others threw flowers.

"We feel a great loss because he has brought progress to this nation. In terms of his wrongdoings, well, every human makes mistakes," said Sukiman, who came with his wife to see the funeral.

At the family mausoleum, police and soldiers lined the streets, and flags flew at half-mast.

Suharto, the son of a minor official from a small village in central Java, married Siti Hartinah, a member of one of Solo's royal families, later using that connection to assume the manner of a Javanese king.

The Suharto family mausoleum at Giribangun, built on a hilltop surrounded by trees, is only a few hundred feet from the Mangkunegaran royal family's tomb where the first, second, and third Mangkunegaran kings were buried.

DEBATE OVER LEGACY

Suharto's admission to hospital in critical condition earlier this month sparked a national debate over his legacy.

Some Indonesians argued his errors should be forgiven, while others urged the state to press ahead with a civil suit against him for graft, and to consider legal proceedings for human rights abuses.

Suharto and his family deny any wrongdoing.

Despite his humiliating overthrow in 1998, many of the region's leaders and Indonesia's elite had rushed to his bedside to pay their respects as he lay dying.

Singapore's former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew flew to Jakarta to see him, paying tribute to Suharto's role in bringing stability to the region, particularly during the Cold War period.

"Younger people do not know how disastrous was the economic situation in Indonesia before September 1965 when hyper-inflation was drowning Indonesia's economy," Lee Kuan Yew said in a condolence letter to Suharto's daughter.

"Under Pak Harto's leadership he turned the country around and made Indonesia an economic success story," he wrote.

"I have no doubt history will accord Pak Harto a special place of honor in Indonesia's history when his life's work is studied in calm perspective."

Suharto rose to power after he led the military in 1965 against what was officially called an attempted communist coup. Up to 500,000 people were killed in an anti-communist purge in the months that followed.

Over the next three decades, Suharto's armed forces committed numerous human rights abuses, killing student activists, criminals, and opponents to the regime in the rebellious provinces of Aceh and Papua, as well as in East Timor, which Indonesia invaded in 1975.

(Additional reporting by Telly Nathalia in Jakarta, and Mita Valina Liem in Solo; Writing by Sugita Katyal: Editing by Sara Webb and Jerry Norton)