New team checks Soeharto's health
JAKARTA (JP): Complying with prosecutors' requests for a second opinion of former president Soeharto's health, a new medical team conducted on Saturday comprehensive tests on the country's ex-ruler.
The results will be officially announced before the next hearing of Soeharto's corruption trial at the agriculture ministry in Ragunan, South Jakarta, on Sept. 28.
"The doctors have agreed not to issue any statements prior to the next hearing of Soeharto's corruption case," secretary to the examination team, Budi Sampurna, told journalists while leaving the hospital on Saturday.
The nine-hour examination was carried out at Pertamina Hospital in South Jakarta. It included tests on Soeharto's physical and psychological condition and his nervous system, and lipid and thyroid profiles. It also used a magnetic resonance imaging device to scan an image of the former strongman's brain.
Vice chairman of Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital Soepardi Soedibyo, who was assigned as an observer to Saturday's examination, said the team completed the tests earlier than the two days that had originally been scheduled.
"The examination went so smoothly that it finished earlier than expected. The team will discuss the results starting from tomorrow," Soepardi said.
The venue for the medical examination was switched from the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital.
"We decided to move the venue to Pertamina Hospital after learning that Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital is close to the demonstration-prone area of Salemba," Antasari Azhar, head of the South Jakarta Prosecutor's Office, said.
The decision was made in a meeting at Hotel Kristal in Terogong area, South Jakarta, on Friday evening. The hotel is the official residence of the doctors' team.
Soeharto arrived at a tightly guarded Pertamina Hospital a few minutes before 7 a.m. in a dark blue Volkswagen Caravelle van, driven by his second son Bambang Trihatmodjo. He was accompanied by his three daughters, lawyers and private medical team.
He was wheeled into VVIP (very-very important person) suite No. 604 in the main building, where the tests took place.
He looked pale when leaving the building, but managed to smile and wave to the crowds before entering the van.
The 79-year-old former president is being tried on graft charges involving some US$571 million of state funds in his capacity as the chairman of seven charity foundations.
Soeharto failed to appear at the courtroom for the previous two hearings due to his ailing condition.
As a result, presiding judge Lalu Mariyun ordered prosecutors to set up a new medical team to determine Soeharto's condition. The team comprises experts from the Indonesia Medical Doctors Association (IDI), the Ministry of Health, the University of Indonesia, Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University and Surabaya- based Airlangga University.
Separately, IDI chairman Merdias Almatsier said the association would not tolerate the establishment of any other medical team.
"In our opinion, this team is final and it's not necessary to form another one," he said in a statement on Saturday.
"Why? Because this team, like the previous two medical teams -- the diagnostic doctors assigned by the Attorney General's Office to gauge Soeharto's fitness to stand trial and the dispensing doctors who are responsible of his medication -- consist of independent and objective doctors who are impartial and professional," he said. (bby/edt)