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Doctors say surgery on Suharto went well

Posted on: Friday, 19 May 2006, 06:40 CDT

By Achmad Sukarsono

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Former Indonesian President Suharto successfully underwent stomach surgery on Friday at a hospital that has treated him for the last two weeks, shortly after the country's current leader visited him.

The 84-year-old Suharto, who ruled Indonesia with an iron fist for 32 years, was admitted to hospital in early May due to bleeding in his digestive system, which lowered his body's oxygen level, including to his brain

Earlier, doctors had said there was some bleeding under his stomach skin and needed to get the blood out with a small operation.

Doctors said the 30-minute procedure went well.

"There was no problem. He is in a safe condition. He can talk but he likes to sleep," Mardjo Soebiandono, head of the presidential medical team, told Reuters, adding that the bleeding under the skin had been stopped.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited the former strongman ruler before the operation.

Doctors say they continue to consider Suharto's condition critical, as they have since his admission.

"This critical phase has been longer than we had expected. The wish was the critical phase would be over in a week but it turned out that it is not over until now because it has implicated other organs," said Adji Suprajitno, head of the Pertamina hospital where Suharto is staying.

Suharto has been admitted to hospital a number of times since he stepped down in 1998 when social and political chaos engulfed Indonesia. He has suffered several strokes since then and has had lung and kidney problems.

Indonesia's attorney-general said last week that his office had stopped pursuing graft charges against Suharto because of his poor health. The octogenarian's illness had prevented his persecution on charges of graft.

The case has been announced as closed in the past, only to be opened again when officials in charge have changed. Some in parliament also dispute whether Yudhoyono can unilaterally drop it without legislative approval.

Yudhoyono told reporters he visited Suharto as a gesture of humanity. He gave no new comment on the former president's legal status.

Suharto sharply raised incomes in Indonesia at the expense of political freedom and endemic graft during his years in power, with critics saying he and members of his family corruptly amassed up to $45 billion, accusations they deny.

Around 200 protesters held rallies near Suharto's central Jakarta home on Friday demanding the government put him on trial over the graft allegations and make him pay damages.

(additional reporting by Diyan Jari and Telly Nathalia)

Source: REUTERS

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