Jakarta: Indonesia's former president Suharto clung tenaciously to life Monday in hospital on respiratory assistance, a day after doctors warned his family to prepare for the worst.

The octogenarian ex-dictator, who ruled Indonesia for 32 years, suffered multiple organ failure last Friday, a week after he was initially admitted to hospital with a weakening heart, kidney and lungs.

On Sunday, doctors gave him a 50-50 chance of survival and gathered his family to warn them to prepare for his death.

But Mardjo Soebiandono, the doctor heading the team treating Suharto, said Monday that his "general condition is improving."

"There is an improvement in the functioning of the heart, the ventilator is still on, but there are also some problems in the functioning of his lungs," he told reporters.

He said he was taken off sedatives this morning to test his consciousness, "and the assessment is that there was a response."

Former Malaysian premier and Suharto's contemporary Mahathir Mohamad, who underwent a second round of heart bypass surgery last year, was due to visit Suharto later on Monday, said the current president s spokesman.

"He will go straight to the hospital to visit his old friend, Pak Harto," Dino Patti Djalal told ElShinta, referring to Suharto by his affectionate name.

Mahathir, who is aged 82,resigned in 2003 after more than two decades in power.

Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew, who is 84 and another old friend of Suharto, jetted in to Jakarta on Sunday to pay a brief visit.
Source : PTI