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Jakarta: The family of former president Suharto, who died on Sunday aged 86, have asked for forgiveness.
"Father has returned to God," Suharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hariyanti "Tutut" Rukmana, told reporters breaking down in tears. "We ask that if he had any faults, please forgive them ... may he be absolved of all his mistakes," she said.
Mr Suharto's death came more than three weeks after he was admitted to hospital with heart, lung and kidney problems, although he had surprised his doctors by his resilience despite being in a critical condition.
His team of doctors said earlier Sunday that Suharto had suffered multiple organ failure overnight, and had been resuscitated but remained unconscious.
"Our former president HM (Haji Mohamad) Suharto has passed away around 13:10 (0610 GMT)," Dicky Sondani, the sub-district police chief, told reporters at the hospital.
Mr Suharto was known as a ruthless leader whose success presiding over huge economic progress was overshadowed by a legacy of bloodshed, human rights abuses and corruption on a colossal scale. Although he steered the sprawling archipelago nation through an economic boom, making it notably self-sufficient in rice, billions of dollars ended up in the hands of friends and relatives as cronyism and corruption ran riot.
He eventually stepped down in in 1998 amid deadly riots and mass pro-democracy protests that were sparked by the 1997 Asian economic crisis.
Opinion on his rule remains divided in Indonesia. "We could not have expected a leader for Indonesia worse than Suharto. But he was no Pol Pot," said Asmara Nababan, head of the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights in Jakarta.
A doctor who treated Suharto, Munawar, said: "We have worked our best...
God has decided otherwise."
"At around nine or ten, the condition of the heart and blood pressure remained up and down and we, to be truthful, were already begining to give up, because the condition of his brain, was already very serious...," he told ElShinta radio.
"At 11, we already told the family," that Suharto was dying, he said.
All of Suharto's six children had gathered on Sunday at his bedside, the former president's close aide, Moerdiono earlier said. AFP/sf
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