The 86-year-old Suharto, who ruled Indonesia for more than three decades, suffered multiple-organ failure on Friday and was put on a ventilator to help him breathe. On Saturday, doctors said his condition had improved and that he showed a response.

But at the family's mausoleum, 35 km northeast of the Javanese royal city of Solo, soldiers and military police guarded the complex as workmen unloaded tents and an excavator was brought in to prepare Suharto's grave.

Reporters were issued with press IDs saying "Press - Funeral of Grand General (Retired) H.M. Soeharto". “We are anticipating all possibilities. It is part of the police’s job," Dodi Sumantyawan, the central Java police chief, said.

The question of whether to continue legal proceedings against him for corruption is being vigorously debated by politicians and  the public.