JAKARTA - Indonesia's ailing former President Suharto has pneumonia and is developing a blood infection which could lead to blood poisoning, causing a further deterioration in his health, his doctors said on Tuesday.

Doctors have been battling to save the 86-year-old former strongman, who ruled the vast Southeast Asian nation for more than three decades.

Suharto was rushed to hospital on January 4 suffering from heart, lung and kidney problems, and was put on a ventilator on Friday after suffering multiple organ failure.

"His consciousness has declined. Heart, lung and digestive functions are all declining," said Mardjo Soebiandono, the head of the medical team treating Suharto, adding that there was no prospect of taking Suharto off the ventilator yet.

Suharto's rule was marked by rapid economic growth and political stability, but also saw the country experience massacres, human rights abuses, and endemic corruption.

With the former general now in critical condition, there has been a lively debate over his legacy and whether to push ahead with legal proceedings against him for graft.

Many ordinary Indonesians have been transfixed by the swings in Suharto's health over the past week, while the letters column of the Jakarta Post has been filled with angry letters from people saying the former ruler should be tried.

"The public, like me, have wondered all along how these faults can be concealed so nicely and how he is still free today despite all the wrong and the sufferings countless people have endured," wrote Khristianto from Central Java.

"Is he really innocent?"

PAYING RESPECTS

The former general came to power after an abortive coup on September 30, 1965, officially blamed on the communist party.

Suharto was charged with embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars of state funds after he quit office, but the government later dropped the case due to his poor health. He and his family deny any wrongdoing.

Transparency International put Suharto's assets at $15-$35 billion (7.6-17.8 billion pounds), or as much as 1.3 percent of gross domestic product.

Since his admission to hospital, a "who's who" of Indonesia's elite - family members, ministers, and military men - as well as several long-serving Asian leaders have dropped by his bedside to pay their respects.

Suharto's friend and contemporary Lee Kuan Yew called at the hospital in south Jakarta at the weekend.

Lee, 84, now Singapore's Minister Mentor, was prime minister for decades at the same time as Suharto's rule in Indonesia. He told Singapore media he felt Suharto was not getting the honour he deserved.

On Monday, the 82-year-old former prime minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, prayed and whispered into Suharto's ear during his visit. Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah has also visited Suharto, who was forced out of office by mass protests in 1998.

Doctors said on Tuesday that Suharto had taken a turn for the worse.

Hermansyur Kartowisastro, one of the doctors treating Suharto, said he was suffering from pneumonia in one of his lungs, while another said the former president was developing blood poisoning.

"It is clearly heading towards sepsis. There has been a decline in (his) digestive functions," Djoko Rahardjo of his medical team told reporters at a news conference.

Medical team chief Mardjo Soebiandono said on Sunday there was only a 50-50 chance he could survive.