JAKARTA (AFP) - - The health of Indonesia's ex-president Suharto worsened to "very critical" Sunday, the doctor leading the team treating him said, giving him a 50-50 chance of surviving.

The 86-year-old former dictator suffered multiple organ failure on Friday, a week after he was initially admitted to hospital with heart, kidney and lung problems, and he was hooked to a ventilator to save his life.

On Saturday he appeared to stabilise and even improve slightly, but Sunday there was another deterioration.

"The conclusion is that there is a regression in the function of almost all organs and the condition of Haji Muhammad Suharto is very critical."

Asked about the patient's chances of survival, he said: "It is 50-50. We may pray that God fulfills (our wishes) and cures H.M. Suharto."

Family had been gathered twice to be informed "of the worst possibilities," he said, adding that doctors had asked the family whether he should be resuscitated if it be necessary "and they left it to the doctors to decide."

Another doctor on the team, Djoko Rahardjo, speaking to reporters as he left the hospital after dusk, said there had been some improvement in Suharto's condition with stabilised blood pressure, but he did not elaborate.

Suharto's slide came as his long-time friend, Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew, jetted in to Jakarta to see him as he lay sedated.

Lee is the latest high-profile visitor but first foreign statesman to rush to the ailing former leader's side.

"Mr Lee expressed his concern and prayed that Pak Harto can have a speedy recovery," Murdiono, a former state secretary and confidant of Suharto, told reporters, referring to Suharto by his affectionate name after Lee's visit.

Suharto was forced to ignominiously step down a decade ago amid violent riots and an economic crisis after 32 years of repressive and often brutal rule in the world's fourth-most populous nation.

Singapore's Lee, who stepped down in 1990, was among those who advised during the final days of Suharto's rule that it would be best for the country if he stood down, but the two have remained close. Lee, 84, has visited the reclusive Suharto at his residence several times in the past decade.

Suharto has never been brought to justice over human rights abuses he is alleged to have overseen during his rule -- particularly in East Timor, Aceh and Papua -- nor faced criminal trial over billions of dollars in state assets he is alleged to have siphoned to family and friends.

Yet many in the predominantly Muslim nation remain divided over his legacy, with some looking back to his era as a time when everyday life was easier thanks to subsidised goods.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's spokesman told AFP Sunday that a planned visit by military-ruled Myanmar's prime minister this week had been postponed "because the national mood is not conducive at the moment" for it.

Yudhoyono had cut short a visit to Malaysia on Saturday by a few hours to return home due to Suharto's illness.

The Indonesian air force was preparing five aircraft in anticipation of his death to fly his body to the family mausoleum, its spokesman Daryatma was quoted as saying by the Detikcom online news portal, adding 700 airforce personnel were on standby in Jakarta.

At the mausoleum, located outside the ancient Central Java city of Solo on the slopes of a dormant volcano, workers scurried over the weekend to spruce up the surrounds in preparation for a possibly imminent burial.

The grave of Suharto's wife, who died in 1996, lies next to what has long been designated as the former leader's final resting place.

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