Improving Suharto 'ready to go home'

JAKARTA, Indonesia (Reuters) -- Indonesia's former president Suharto, who has been hospitalised with pneumonia for more than a week, is likely to be well enough to return home in two days, doctors said on Wednesday.

"God willing, if Suharto's condition stays stable, he can go home on Friday. The possibility is 90 percent," Kunindro Dadi told a news conference at the capital's Pertamina hospital.

"Since yesterday, he can already perform activities he could do before he fell ill (from pneumonia), such as eating and walking without assistance," the radiologist said.

Suharto, who ruled Indonesia for 32 years before being ousted amid mass riots in 1998, was hospitalised on December 17 after his health worsened.

The 80-year-old former president, who along with his family has been accused of corruptly amassing a multi-billion dollar fortune during his rule, has suffered several strokes since his ouster.

All members of the once-dominant first family have denied any wrongdoing.

Suharto's health problems prompted the Supreme Court earlier this month to state he could never stand trial and President Megawati Sukarnoputri has been considering whether to drop all charges against the former general.

She has yet to make a decision but activists and independent lawyers say any such move would be a further black mark on Indonesia's weak judicial system and again put back efforts to account for past wrongs.

A case against Suharto, on charges of embezzling some $500 million, was dropped last year also on health grounds but prosecutors have repeatedly tried to reopen proceedings.

Doctors said although Suharto's condition had improved in recent days he still had a debilitating speech disorder.

Analysts have said efforts to prevent the former president standing trial showed he still held influence in the courts.

His favourite son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra was arrested last month after a year on the run and is at the centre of a murder probe over the killing of a judge who handed him an 18-month jail term.

Tommy, handcuffed to a policeman, was allowed in to visit his father last week.

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