SURAKARTA, Central Java (AP): - The body of former Indonesian president Soeharto arrived in his hometown Monday for a state funeral.
A C-130 Hercules carrying Suharto's body arrived in the city of Surakarta, some 400 kilometers east of the capital, just after 10 a.m., accompanied by two planes used by his family and friends.
"May god bless his soul and forgive his mistakes and sins," House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono said when leading a brief ceremony at Soeharto's residence in Jakarta early Monday morning.
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Soeharto died of multiple-organ failure Sunday, after more than three weeks on life support at the Pertamina Hospital in South Jakarta. He was 86.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who has declared a week of national mourning, was to oversee the funeral at Astana Giribangun, the Soeharto family mausoleum near Surakarta.
A string of the country's political elite visited Soeharto's family home Sunday to pay respects and pray over his body, in a sign of his lingering importance.
Many also attended the ceremony Monday morning, when his family turned Soeharto's flag-draped coffin to the military.
Onlookers lined the streets leading to the Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base as a motorcade carrying Suharto's body drove by. (**)
