Eric Talmadge, Jakarta – Indonesia's vice president visited ailing former dictator Suharto in a hospital Monday and said he should not face trial for crimes allegedly committed during his rule.
Suharto, 84, underwent colon surgery on Sunday to stem intestinal bleeding and doctors said that he would remain hospitalized at least for five more days.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla told el-Shinta radio station after a visit to Jakarta's Pertamina Hospital that Suharto was able to speak and looked "better than I expected." Asked whether Suharto should face trial, Kalla said, "For me, we should no longer think about legal prosecution against an ailing former leader."
Suharto's 32-year-long rule ended in 1998 amid riots and pro-democracy protests. Suharto was indicted soon after his ouster for alleged corruption during the dictatorship, but has avoided trial because doctors told prosecutors a series of strokes had left him too sick to understand the proceedings.
Other than the corruption charges, critics say Suharto should also be tried in connection with widespread political bloodshed during his presidency, which killed more than 500,000 suspected communists and left-wing opponents after he took power.
Suharto still has many powerful allies in Indonesia's political and military elite, and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is seen as unlikely to expend any political capital in pursuing Suharto's case.
Yudhoyono was a former general in Suharto's army and heads his former political party Golkar. Many other politicians and army officers who got rich during his rule remain in power.
Kalla was accompanied at the hospital by Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie, who has deep links to the old regime.
Suharto faces charges of embezzlement. Last month, Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh asked doctors to take a new look at whether he was fit to stand trial.
This is the fourth time Suharto has been treated for intestinal bleeding in two years, most recently in November, although he is not believed to have undergone intestinal surgery before.
Despite Suharto's advanced age, the medical team decided to carry out the operation after a colonoscopy revealed bleeding on the left side of his colon.
Speaking at a news conference Sunday, Brig. Gen. Marjo Subiandono, the chief presidential physician, said there was no more bleeding and "the functions of vital organs such as kidney, heart, brain, have already been stable."
Suharto is said to have suffered permanent brain damage and some speech loss from at least two strokes. He received a series of blood transfusions to stabilize a shortage of hemoglobin, which are the red blood cells that carry oxygen through the bloodstream.