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(AP)JAKARTA, Indonesia – Former dictator Suharto, an army general who crushed Indonesia’s communist movement and pushed aside the country’s founding father to usher in 32 years of tough rule that saw up to a million political opponents killed, died Sunday. He was 86.
“He has died,” Dr. Christian Johannes told The Associated Press, adding that he died at 1:10 p.m.
Dozens of doctors on Suharto’s medical team had been rushed to the Pertamina Hospital in the capital, Jakarta, after his blood pressure fell suddenly Saturday night. Suharto had slipped out of consciousness for the first time in more than three weeks of treatment, doctors said.
Suharto had been in intensive care with lung, heart and kidney failure since he was admitted to the hospital on Jan. 4. Over the past week his physicians had spoken of a recovery, but by Sunday that had changed dramatically.
Suharto, who led a regime widely regarded as one of the 20th century’s most brutal and corrupt, has lived a reclusive life in a comfortable villa in downtown Jakarta for the past decade.
He had been in and out of the hospital several times since being toppled by a pro-democracy uprising during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis for heart problems and internal bleeding.
Historians say up to 800,000 alleged communist sympathizers were killed during Suharto’s rise to power from 1965 to 1968. His troops killed another 300,000 in military operations against independence movements in Papua, Aceh and East Timor.
Suharto’s poor health had kept him from facing trial, and no one has been punished for the killings.
Corruption watchdog Transparency International has said Suharto and his family amassed billions of dollars in stolen state funds, allegations the family is fighting in court.
by
oscar siagian
at
Sun Jan 27 06:50:38 UTC 2008
(ed. Mar 12 2008)
yogyakarta,
Indonesian Earthquake Zone
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