Ailing Soeharto visits graves of parents, wife, meets son

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

After more than two years of being confined to his house in the residential area of Cendana in Central Jakarta due to illness, former president Soeharto visited on Tuesday the graves of his loved ones in Yogyakarta and Central Java.

Soeharto visited the graves of his wife and his mother in Karanganyar, Central Java, before paying his respects at the tomb of his father in Kemusuk hamlet in Bantul, 10 kilometers west of Yogyakarta.

The visits were part of a Javanese ritual ahead of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadhan, which starts on Wednesday.

It was the longest trip Soeharto has made since he suffered a stroke in 2000, which allowed him to avoid a trial for allegedly embezzling US$571 million in state funds during his 32-year rule that ended in 1998.

Soeharto and his entourage, including daughter Siti Hardijanti Rukmana and sons Sigit Harjojudanto and Bambang Trihatmojo, arrived at the village, which is Soeharto's birthplace, at about 1 p.m. in a convoy of luxury cars.

They were greeted by Soeharto's stepbrother Noto Suwito at his large house next to the Kepoh graveyard.

Wearing a light blue polo shirt and dark blue pants, Soeharto needed assistance to get out of a VW Caravele, but he appeared in good health as he hugged and shook hands with a number of people welcoming him.

His face beamed his characteristic smile that earned him the nickname the Smiling General. Soeharto waved to the rest of the people standing outside the house.

He walked unaided and without a cane as he entered the house. He smiled and sometimes nodded his head as he listened to someone speaking to him.

Moments later he came out of the house, motioning with his right hand to a group of journalists as he was about to leave for his parents' graves.

Hardijanti, better known as Tutut, who was walking next to her father, said loudly to Soeharto: "Yes, they are journalists."

Then she turned her face to the journalists and shouted: "Bapak asked who you are. Bapak just wanted to say he cannot speak."

On Monday, Soeharto visited Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra at Nusakambangan prison in the Central Java town of Cilacap.