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JAKARTA : The health of Indonesia's former president Suharto was showing signs of improvement Sunday, doctors said, a day after they warned he was in a critical condition with a weakening heart and kidneys.
Suharto fell ill early last week at his home, which he has rarely left since mass protests and economic turmoil in 1998 ended his 32-year iron-grip rule of Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation.
"There have been many good signs showing that his condition is improving," Marjo Soebiandono, who heads the presidential team of doctors, told AFP.
He said Suharto's blood pressure was improving and he could show his emotions, such as by smiling, though he could still not speak and remained weak.
Asked whether the critical phase was over, Soebiandono said: "We cannot say that yet, but it is about 60 percent" over.
Suharto's six children, current President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Vice President Jusuf Kalla and a stream of other high-profile officials, including those prominent in his governments, visited Suharto on Friday and Saturday.
"We have conducted an evaluation of his conditions, but we will only make public some of the results later today (Sunday)," Djoko Raharjo, who heads the Pertamina hospital where Suharto is being treated, told AFP.
A press release read out by another doctor at the hospital on Sunday advised that Suharto's heart and lung functions had improved and that liquid retention in his body was decreasing.
Suharto was put on haemodialysis on Saturday after his blood pressure rose sufficiently during the day.
He had been initially admitted to hospital with symptoms of anaemia and low blood pressure.
Doctors have also said the ex-president is suffering problems with his heart valves which would require an operation involving his pacemaker, though they have not indicated when this will take place.
Suharto has been in and out of hospital for various ailments in recent years, including at least two strokes and stomach problems.
His poor health saw a criminal trial against him for corruption abandoned, despite him being accused of being one of the 20th century's worst kleptocrats by amassing billions of US dollars for himself, his family and cronies while in power.
A civil suit is however currently being heard against him, with the government seeking US$1.4 billion in damages and returned assets allegedly accrued through a charitable foundation Suharto chaired while in power.
Last year, in a move critics saw as evidence of Suharto's lingering influence, Indonesia's top court awarded him more than US$100 million in damages in a libel case he brought against Time magazine.
The magazine had claimed he had embezzled some US$15 billion while in power. - AFP/ch
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