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Former dictator Suharto's health worsens
2008-01-05
Indonesia's former dictator Suharto was on a dialysis machine in critical condition Saturday, doctors said, as the president called on the nation to pray for his rapid recovery. Suharto, 86, was admitted Friday to Pertamina Hospital with swollen intestines, a dangerously low heart rate and anemia, said chief presidential physician Brig. Gen. Mardjo Subiandono, adding that he also needed a second pacemaker. "The dialysis has begun ... but he is still in critical condition because his blood pressure could drop at any time," he said. Suharto, accused of overseeing a brutal purge of more than half a million left-wing opponents at the outset of his 32-year reign, was conscious but drowsy from medication, several Cabinet members said after visiting him. "We should pray for the best and hope all efforts to restore his health will be successful," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in a statement issued at his palace in the capital. "The country always gives the best health treatment to former leaders." A dialysis machine and other equipment was rushed to Suharto's bedside and 40 specialists assembled to diagnose and treat the former strongman, who was toppled by a pro-democracy uprising during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis. "We are afraid he could suffer organ failure, so we have recruited some specialists from several hospitals to try everything to avoid organ failure," Dr. Joko Raharjo, a member of the medical team, told The Associated Press. His general condition was worse than when he was treated for intestinal bleeding and heart problems in 2006, Raharjo said, adding that Suharto had been treated at home for around a week before being admitted to hospital. Since his ouster, Suharto has lived a secluded life on a leafy lane in Jakarta and is rarely seen in public. Two years after his ouster, prosecutors filed charges that he embezzled $600 million in public funds, but legal proceedings were suspended because of his poor health. As an army general, he seized power in a 1965 coup and over the following three decades hundreds of thousands of perceived communists and separatist sympathizers were murdered or imprisoned across this vast island nation of 235 million people. No one has ever been punished for the crimes. Suharto is said to have suffered permanent brain damage and some speech loss from his ailments, but during recent Islamic holidays he received a stream of high-profile guests and gave a rare media interview in November after winning a defamation lawsuit against Time magazine. Time published allegations that Suharto and his family had amassed up to $15 billion in stolen state funds. Transparency International has said the Suharto family robbed the nation of more than twice that amount. In the interview with Gatra news magazine, Suharto vowed to donate most of the US$106 million in damages he won from Time to the poor. The publication is appealing the Supreme Court decision. Critics "can say what they want. It is empty talk," Suharto said in the interview. "The fact is I have never committed corruption." ___ Associated Press Writer Niniek Karmini in Jakarta contributed to this report.
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