The New York Times-20080124-New Infections Strike Ex-Leader of Indonesia
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New Infections Strike Ex-Leader of Indonesia
The ailing former dictator Suharto has developed several potentially fatal infections, his doctors said Wednesday.
Mr. Suharto, 86, who ruled the nation for 32 years until he was toppled a decade ago by a pro-democracy uprising, also suffers from digestive trouble and severe pneumonia, said Dr. Joko Raharjo, a member of his medical team.
We are trying hard to find and detect the bacteria and treat him with proper antibiotics, but we cannot guarantee it will be successful, he told reporters. We are not happy with his condition today.
Mr. Suharto, who was hospitalized on Jan. 4 with anemia and a low heart rate, is on a ventilator and a dialysis machine, and is being fed through a tube.
There are new infections in several parts of his body, Dr. Marjo Subiandono said. The increased sepsis is threatening his life.
A week after being admitted to Pertamina Hospital in the capital, Mr. Suharto's heart briefly stopped and doctors said privately he was on the verge of death. Preparations began for a state funeral.
Last weekend doctors became more optimistic, saying he was staging an amazing recovery, and had spoken, eaten and moved his hands.
But on Wednesday his condition took a turn for the worse and tests showed systemic infection.
Such an infection, or sepsis, is particularly dangerous for the elderly and patients in critical condition.
His condition is worse this morning because fluid is accumulating in his lungs and the pneumonia has spread to both lungs, said another physician, Dr. Hadiarto Mangunnegoro.
Mr. Suharto's rule was widely regarded as markedly brutal and as one of the 20th century's most corrupt. Since being toppled in May 1998 during widespread pro-democracy street protests, he has lived a reclusive life in a comfortable villa in downtown Jakarta.
He has been admitted to the hospital several times in recent years after suffering intestinal bleeding and strokes that impaired his speech.
An estimated 500,000 people were killed during three years of anti-Communist purges that began when Mr. Suharto seized power in 1965, a spasm of violence led by the Indonesian Army and conservative Muslim groups.
His troops are believed to have killed 300,000 more people in military operations against independence movements in Papua, Aceh and East Timor, while hundreds of thousands of others were jailed without trial or disappeared. No one has been punished for those killings.
Transparency International, a global anticorruption organization, has said Mr. Suharto and his family amassed billions of dollars in stolen state funds, an allegation he has denied.
