Dozens of Indonesian students have burned a picture of ex-dictator Suharto in a rally to mark the seventh anniversary of his fall after 32 years of iron-fisted rule.

But the rally by students from the state University of Indonesia was a far cry from the tens of thousands of students who stormed the parliament complex seven years ago to celebrate Suharto's resignation.

Only about 70 students rallied Saturday at a park near Suharto's home in an upscale central Jakarta neighbourhood. They demanded President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono bring him to court for corruption and abuses.

"The current government remains afraid to prosecute him because Suharto still holds power," a University of Indonesia student leader said at the protest.

"We must push this government to create justice," the student said amid continuous shouts of "prosecute Suharto." In another rally in the city of Makassar in eastern South Sulawesi province, about 200 students demanded that Yudhoyono "confiscate Suharto's assets and use them to pay" Indonesia's foreign debt. Suharto, 83, was earlier this month hospitalized for six days with intestinal bleeding.

The ex-general has also suffered two strokes which, according to his doctors, left him brain-damaged – an argument which has so far prevented him from standing trial for corruption during his rule.

This condition also allowed Suharto to escape trial for abuses committed during his rule after his lawyers offered medical evidence stating he could no longer hold or follow a normal conversation.

Last month, newspapers reported Suharto appeared quite healthy and had walked unaided into a hall at the anniversary celebrations of a theme park founded by his late wife.

Suharto has lived quietly at home since he was forced from power on May 21, 1998 amid economic and political upheaval triggered by an Asian currency crisis.

Indonesia experienced sustained economic growth and a dramatic reduction in poverty during Suharto's reign, but much of the country's vast wealth was skimmed off by a tiny elite linked to Suharto's military-backed regime.

The general began his rise to power amid a mass slaughter of alleged communists which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in 1965-1966. No one has ever been named as ordering the massacres.

Thousands were killed in Aceh province and East Timor during his rule while hundreds more died in various efforts to stamp out political dissent.