Suharto Meninggal Dunia

JAKARTA, 27 Jan — Bekas Presiden Indonesia, Suharto meninggal dunia pada pukul 1.10 petang ini waktu tempatan (2.10 waktu Malaysia) setelah berada dalam keadaan kritikal sejak awal pagi ini.

Pengumuman itu dibuat oleh bekas Menteri Setiausaha Negara Indonesia, Moerdiono melalui siaran sebuah radio tempatan ke seluruh negara itu sejurus selepas pasukan Doktor Presiden yang merawat Suharto mengesahkan kematian bekas presiden itu.

Suharto, 86, memerintah Indonesia selama 32 tahun dari 1966 hingga 1998 berada dalam keadaan kritikal sejak dimasukkan ke Hospital Pusat Pertamina, Jakarta Selatan pada 4 Jan lepas.

Terdahulu hari ini, doktor mengisytiharkan Suharto dalam keadaan kecemasan dan paling kritikal sejak berada di hospital itu apabila sejak pukul 1 pagi ini bekas pemimpin itu terpaksa bergantung sepenuhnya kepada bantuan alat pernafasan setelah pelbagai organ badannya gagal berfungsi.

Moerdiono yang juga jurucakap keluarga Suharto berkata, anak-anak bekas presiden itu berada di sisi bapa mereka ketika itu.

Semasa dirawat di hospital itu, Suharto yang dimasukkan ke hospital itu pada awalnya kerana masalah pencernaan dan paru-paru berair, beberapa kali dilaporkan berada dalam keadaan koma dan menjalani rawatan pemindahan darah.

Suharto atau lebih dikenali dengan gelaran “Pak Harto” adalah bekas Presiden kedua Indonesia yang juga dikenali sebagai “Bapa Pembangunan Indonesia” hasil perkembangan pesat negara itu semasa era pemerintahannya.

Suharto yang turut dihormati di kalangan negara jiran rantau ini adalah antara pemimpin yang banyak menyumbang dalam pertubuhan serantau Asean.

Bekas Perdana Menteri Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad yang turut melawat Suharto di hospital itu pada 14 Januari lepas berkata, bekas presiden itu juga berperanan utama dalam memulihkan hubungan antara Malaysia-Indonesia (selepas konfrontasi terhadap Malaysia yang dilancarkan oleh presiden pertama Indonesia, Sukarno).

“Suharto memudahkan perhubungan antara Malaysia dengan Indonesia yang selepas itu semakin meningkat dan hubungan jadi begitu rapat sehingga kita boleh anggap ini serumpun, yang sememangnya dari asal dekat,” kata Dr Mahathir kepada media Indonesia sejurus selepas meluangkan masa kira-kira 25 minit melawat Suharto di hospital itu.

Sultan Pahang Sultan Ahmad Shah adalah antara kenamaan Malaysia yang melawat Suharto di hospital itu.- Bernama

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Father of development

"Indonesia's second President Haji Muhammad Suharto has passed away at about 1310," senior police officer Major Dicky Sondani told reporters at the Pertamina Hospital in Jakarta.

All six of his children were at the hospital.

Soldiers and police had to force back crowds of Suharto supporters to allow the ambulance with his body to leave the hospital on his way to his home in central Jakarta, before it is taken to Solo in central Java for the funeral.

The government has announced a week of national mourning. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono led a televised prayer.

"I invite all the people of Indonesia to pray that may the deceased's good deeds and dedication to the nation be accepted by Allah the almighty," he said.

"Mr Suharto has done a great service to the nation."

Suharto was rushed to hospital on 4 January suffering from various heart, lung and kidney problems.

He had been living quietly in Jakarta since being overthrown during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis. He had been in and out of the hospital several times.

Although he was accused of embezzling huge sums from state funds during his three decades in power, his lawyers always successfully pleaded that his failing health meant he should not stand trial.

Suharto's rule was marked by rapid economic growth and political stability. Some Indonesians fondly call him the "father of development".

But many often found it difficult to pin down what they felt about the man who had towered over their lives for so long, says the BBC's Jonathan Head.

They certainly feared him, our correspondent says.

After all, the bloodshed which accompanied his rise to power, after a mysterious coup attempt in 1965 which he blamed on Indonesia's then-powerful Communist Party, was on a scale matched only in Cambodia in this region, he says.

Within the space of a few months at least half a million people were slaughtered in anti-communist pogroms that, at the very least, Suharto and the military tacitly encouraged says our correspondent.

The trauma of that period scars Indonesia to this day, and was a key tool in Suharto's armoury.

After his death was announced, Suharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hariyanti Rukmana, told reporters: "We ask that if he had any faults, please forgive them... may he be absolved of all his mistakes."

RISE AND FALL OF SUHARTO

Born in Java, June 1921

Comes to power in 1965 after alleged Communist coup attempt

Formally replaces Sukarno as president in March 1967

Modernisation programmes in the 70s and 80s raise living standards

East Timor invaded in late 1975

Asian economic crisis of the 1990s hits Indonesian economy

Spiralling prices and discontent force him to resign in May 1998

Judges rule he is unfit to stand trial for corruption in 2000

Transparency International says he tops the world all-time corruption table in March 2004

Rujukan:
http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp...&pg=bt_02.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7211565.stm