Agence France Presse in Jakarta – Disgraced and ailing former dictator Suharto was moved to tears by an orphan when he marked his 80th birthday yesterday, two days after the man he overthrew, founding president Sukarno, would have turned 100.
While the centenary of the charismatic independence hero's birth was marked on Wednesday by an outpouring of sentimentality by millions of Indonesians, Suharto's birthday was a quiet family affair. The day was marked with little more than prayers and donations to orphans at a mosque built by the family, and a small gathering at their Jakarta home.
Suharto's 80th birthday fell almost three weeks after the virtually unnoticed third anniversary of the end of his 32-year rule in May 1998. Since Suharto stepped down amid violent pro-democracy demonstrations and an economic crisis, only his failing health has enabled a battery of lawyers to save him from facing trial for massive corruption.
Yesterday he and his family were up at dawn to distribute food and clothes to orphans at the At-Tin mosque in the Taman Mini Indonesia theme park on Jakarta's eastern outskirts. "There were thousands of orphans," Suharto's main lawyer, Juan Felix Tampubolon, said after attending the ceremony.
The former army general wept as an eight year-old orphan read out an Islamic prayer, Detik.com news reported. "My father cried listening to the orphan read a verse about peace," Suharto's daughter, Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanti Rukmana, was quoted as saying.
Five of Suharto's six children and all his grandchildren were present, Mr Tampubolon said. "All the children except Tommy were there," he said, referring to Suharto's youngest son who has been on the run from police since his conviction over a multimillion-dollar land scam in September.
Suharto, who has suffered two strokes and intestinal disorders and is allegedly brain-damaged, was able to walk slowly and smile, Mr Tampubulon said. "His face seemed cheerful. But speech is very difficult for him. He can only manage a few words, 'yes, no, thank you'," he said. "His brain damage has got worse."
A security guard at the plush Suharto family villa said flowers had been arriving for the frail ex-president since 5am. Sukarno's daughter Megawati Sukarnoputri is now Indonesia's Vice-President, and the former founding father is remembered with reverence even though he spent his final years until his death in 1970 under house arrest in ignominy and virtual solitude.
Suharto is seeing out his own post-rule years in similar disgrace, charged with siphoning off US$571 million of state funds into the pockets of his family and friends. Time magazine charged in 1999 that he and his family stashed away US$15 billion over the 32 years – charges the former strongman has denied.
He is accused of bankrupting the nation and leaving a legacy of endemic corruption. His tough army-backed rule was also blamed for sparking separatist movements in Aceh and Irian Jaya, bringing the vast island archipelago to the brink of disintegration.
But Suharto is faring better than the man he deposed, cared for by his family in their home in Jakarta's grandest neighbourhood and receiving frequent guests.
"Mr Suharto is very lucky now," one of Sukarno's surviving wives, Hartini, told the weekly Forum magazine. "He is free to go wherever he likes, whereas [Sukarno] could not go anywhere at all. He wasn't even allowed to receive guests ... he was very sad."
Another Suharto daughter, Mamiek, said her family was handing out donations to 80,000 orphans in Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Surabaya to mark their father's birthday. "We want to show that in his 80s, our father can still demonstrate compassion," she was quoted as saying.