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| Indonesia's Suharto dead at 86 |
| Jakarta, 27.01.2008 |
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| JAKARTA (AFP) - Indonesia's former president Suharto, whose iron-fisted rule became a byword for corruption and bloody repression but also brought economic growth, died Sunday after a long fight for life.
His demise at 86 marks the passing of yet another of the authoritarian and mostly pro-Western strongmen who dominated this part of Asia for much of the late 20th century.
Doctors treating him since he was hospitalised three weeks ago with heart, lung and kidney problems said he had died at 1:10pm (0610 GMT) after multiple organ failure overnight.
"Father has returned to God," his eldest daughter, Siti Hariyanti "Tutut" Rukmana told reporters outside the hospital, breaking down in tears.
"We ask that if he had any faults, please forgive them... may he be absolved of all his mistakes."
A doctor who treated Suharto, Munawar, said: "We worked our best... God has decided otherwise."
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed his sorrow and asked people to pray for the late president.
"I also would like to call on the people of Indonesia to show the highest respect to one of the nation's best sons, a great leader of the nation who has contributed so much service and dedication to the nation and the state."
Later, with troops patrolling the street outside, Yudhoyono and his deputy Jusuf Kalla were shown on television kneeling before Suharto's white-shrouded body in a bare room of his residence.
The flag at the presidential palace was lowered to half mast, and Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi announced a seven-day mourning period.
A presidential spokesman said Yudhoyono would lead Monday's funeral at the family grave near Solo, Central Java, where Suharto will be buried next to his wife of 48 years, Siti Suhartinah, who died in 1996.
Suharto was a ruthless dictator whose success presiding over huge economic progress was overshadowed by his legacy of bloodshed, human rights abuses and corruption on a colossal scale.
His tenure was marked by repression, from the killings of at least half a million communists and their sympathisers after the abortive coup that saw him seize power in 1966, to invading East Timor and quelling separatist movements in Aceh and Papua.
At the same time, Suharto steered the sprawling archipelago nation through an economic boom, making it notably self-sufficient in rice. For many people here, he became known as the father of development.
However, billions of dollars ended up in the hands of friends and relatives as cronyism and corruption ran riot, and he eventually stepped down in 1998, rocked by deadly riots and mass pro-democracy protests triggered by the Asian economic crisis.
International reaction to his death recognised his mixed legacy.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd hailed Suharto's role in modernising Indonesia and establishing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), calling him "an influential figure in Australia's region and beyond."
But Rudd acknowledged that Suharto "was also a controversial figure in respect of human rights and East Timor."
Malaysia's Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar described Suharto's death as "a great loss" to the region.
"While at the end of his career many things happened," he added, "actually he contributed to the economic development of Indonesia" and ASEAN.
Political opponents however, many of whom were jailed under his rule, saw Suharto's demise as a missed opportunity to put him on trial.
"His death is a tragedy for all the victims of his crimes, they will never get justice," said Budiman Sudjatmiko, who was jailed as a student activist.
"Count in his corruption then he is a perfect criminal -- he can be put up there with Pol Pot and Hitler."
After leaving office he dropped out of public view while avoiding criminal trial for massive corruption allegations by citing poor health. Doctors said two strokes left him with some permanent brain damage.
Efforts to bring him to justice for alleged human rights atrocities in East Timor, which he invaded in 1975, as well as Aceh and Papua, were stymied by a lack of evidence
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