M&C
27th Jan 2008
Jakarta - Dignitaries including Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong visited the former Indonesian president Suharto's residence Sunday to pay their final respects.
Loong arrived at Suharto's residence as thousands of mourners including government and former government officials and politicians queued in heavy rain, state-run Antara News Agency said.
'My father has returned to God,' Suharto's eldest daughter Siti Hariyanti 'Tutut' Rukmana told reporters outside the hospital earlier, breaking down in tears.
'We ask that if he had any faults, please forgive them. May he be absolved of all his mistakes.'
As troops patrolled the street outside, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his deputy Jusuf Kalla were shown on television kneeling before Suharto's white-shrouded body in a bare room of his residence.
Seven days of mourning was announced and the government ordered the nation's red-and-white flag to be loweredto half-mast across the country for its duration.
A presidential spokesman said Yudhoyono would lead Monday's funeral at the family grave near Solo, Central Java, where Suharto is to be buried next to his wife of 48 years, Siti Suhartinah, who died in 1996.
© 2008 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/asiapacific/news/article_1388675.php/Singapores_Prime_Minister_pays_a_final_tribute_to_Suharto__Extra_
