Indonesia's Suharto ill, country prepares for his death

MATESEH, INDONESIA (Reuters) - As Indonesia's former President Suharto lay critically ill in hospital on Saturday, the military and police rushed to prepare the Suharto family's mausoleum in central Java for his burial.

The 86-year-old Suharto, who ruled Indonesia for more than three decades, suffered multiple organ failure on Friday and was put on a ventilator to help him breathe. On Saturday, doctors said his condition had improved and that he showed a response.

But at the Suharto family's mausoleum, 35 km (21 mile) northeast of the Javanese royal city of Solo, soldiers and military police guarded the complex as workmen unloaded tents and an excavator was brought in to prepare Suharto's grave.

Reporters in Solo were issued with press IDs saying "Press - Funeral of Grand General (Retired) H.M. Soeharto".

"We are anticipating all possibilities. It is part of the police job," said Dodi Sumantyawan, the central Java police chief, after surveying the Suharto family mausoleum.

The Giribangun mausoleum, a three-tiered building with wooden pillars and a stupa-like roof, is perched on a hilltop and surrounded by trees.

Suharto's wife Tien, who was a member of the Solo royal family, is buried there in a chamber with walls of intricately carved wood.

A few visitors stopped by at the mausoleum.

Sumiarsih, who traveled from the neighboring district of Sragen with her son and husband to pay homage at Tien's grave, said she prayed for Suharto's recovery.

"He's done a great service to the nation and we hope he can be well again," she said.

GRAFT CASE

With the former strongman in a critical condition, the question of whether to continue legal proceedings against him for corruption is being vigorously debated by politicians and members of the public.

In an apparent attempt to defuse the debate and avoid openly criticizing Suharto, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told a news conference on Saturday afternoon that this was not an appropriate time to discuss the legal case against Suharto.

"I'm still of the opinion that it's not right to talk about it given the current health condition of Pak Harto," the president said, referring to Suharto by his popular name.

"Pak Harto was a leader of this nation. His contributions to this nation are not small. As a human being, however, like other people, Pak Harto has weaknesses and mistakes."

Critics say Suharto and his family amassed as much as $45 billion in kickbacks or deals where political influence was a key to who won a contract, charges he and his family denied.

After he quit office, Suharto was charged with embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars of state funds, but the government later dropped the case due to his poor health.

Last year, state prosecutors filed a civil suit seeking a total of $440 million of state funds and a further $1 billion in damages for the alleged misuse of money held by one of Suharto's charitable foundations.

INDONESIA'S ELITE

The sudden deterioration in Suharto's health last weekend prompted some politicians to call for legal proceedings against him to be dropped.

However, the attorney-general, who visited the ailing Suharto and his family in hospital overnight, told reporters that the government would still seek an out-of-court settlement in a graft case against the former general.

"The President gave instructions to me to pursue the family of Suharto to finalize an out-of-court settlement of the civil case," Attorney-General Hendarman Supandji told reporters at the hospital.

Suharto was rushed to Pertamina hospital a week ago suffering from anemia and low blood pressure due to heart, lung and kidney problems.

Family members gathered at the hospital as his health deteriorated during the week, while a "who's who" of Indonesian society, including relatives, various government ministers, businessmen, religious leaders, and military men, have flocked to his bedside to pay their respects.

Suharto came to power after an abortive coup on September 30, 1965 that was officially blamed on the communist party. Up to 500,000 people were killed in an anti-communist purge in the months that followed.

Some Indonesians, though, look back with nostalgia to the Suharto era, when Indonesia was one of Asia's tiger economies, and refer to him fondly as the "Father of Development".

(Additional reporting by Telly Nathalia and Andreas Ismar in Jakarta, Writing by Sara Webb; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)