Soeharto suffers multiple organ failure: Doctors

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Former president Soeharto has suffered multiple organ failure and has been placed on a ventilator, it was announced Friday evening.

Mardjo Soebiandono, chief of the presidential medical team, said the 86-year-old Soeharto suffered multiple organ failure and was placed on a ventilator after his breathing became fast and shallow.

Earlier, the doctors said that there were signs of infection in his lungs.

"His condition is deteriorating," said Ismoyo, a cardiologist on the team. "It's worse than it was this morning."

Earlier in the day, the Soeharto family said they were focusing on doing everything possible for the health of the critically ill former president.

"We are concentrating on getting father's health back. We haven't even thought about all that legal stuff," Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra told reporters while visiting his father at Pertamina Hospital in South Jakarta on Friday afternoon.

Just three hours earlier, dozens of relatives of people who went missing, or were killed or imprisoned during Soeharto's 32-year regime, stood outside the hospital lobby entrance taking turns reading what they called a "Prayer for Soeharto".

"We do hope he gets well soon despite all the things he did," said Suciwati, the wife of assassinated human rights activist Munir Said Thalib. "This is a humane thing despite all the crimes he has committed."

"For the sake of humanitarianism, many people have told us that we should let go of Soeharto and grant him peace in his old age," said the mother of Bernardinus "Wawan" Realino Norma Irawan, an Atma Jaya University student who was among 12 others killed by army bullets during a student rally in 1998, the year that Soeharto stepped down in the midst of a massive uprising and public disorder nationwide.

"However, for the families of human rights violation victims, humanitarianism means the enforcement of truth and justice, and this means that Soeharto still has to face the charges regardless of his condition," said 55-year-old Sumarsih.

Sumarsih and dozens of other members of Solidarity for Families of Victims of Human Rights Violations recited a long list of charges, including the 1965 massacre of communists, a series of unsolved shootings from 1981 to 1985, the 1984 Tanjung Priok massacre, 1989 Talangsari Islami sect murders, the Aceh and Papua conflicts and May 1998 riots.

Meanwhile, former People's Consultative Assembly speaker Amien Rais urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to immediately clarify Soeharto's legal status.

"We and the nation are left in uncertainty about what will happen next. And I am sure that is the case with Pak Harto as well," said Amien after attending a meeting with the West Sumatra chapter of the National Mandate Party in Padang on Friday.

Amien said Yudhoyono should immediately make a decision to end the situation.

"An 86-year-old person is very fragile. We who are healthy people should think rationally and help resolve the problem," he said.

"People are already tired of the arguments from legal experts about what we should do. We need a breakthrough."

Soeharto was rushed to Pertamina Hospital on Friday, Jan. 4, due to a severe edema and anemia. His condition remains critical after eight days of intensive treatment.