AS rioting and looting in Jakarta threaten to give way to anarchy, the future of President Suharto of Indonesia, Asia's longest-serving ruler, now returning from an ill-timed visit to Egypt, looks increasingly grim. His 32-year-old blood-stained regime is in its last throes and, sooner or later, he will be deposed by the mob or, more likely, the Army. Indonesia tolerated the repression and corruption of the Suharto Government only while the country enjoyed all the benefits of rapid economic growth. But the Asian financial crisis has brought the Indonesian economy to its knees. The currency has collapsed amid a mountain of foreign debt: inflation and unemployment are so high they can hardly be measured.

The students have been to the fore in demonstrating against the president and his family and friends who control or own much of the country's economic infrastructure, but when young lives were lost earlier this week it provided the catalyst for mass demonstrations. Discontent is widespread, if not against the authorities, then against the wealthy Chinese business community. The police have shown themselves to be trigger-happy, though the military have so far employed greater restraint. They would not find it easy to restore order with television cameramen flashing their pictures of what is happening on the streets around the world.

There is not an obvious democratic solution to Indonesia's problems. Opposition parties have been suppressed and the national assembly is stuffed with placemen. Burning and looting are no aid to a distant economic recovery. Many of those Indonesia needs for its survival are fleeing the country or are on standby to leave if their national governments decide to pull them out. The last thing this fourth most populous country needs is for Suharto to hold on to power or wait until he is driven from office. It will be difficult to construct a government that can bring hope to an impoverished people and reassure the international community upon whose help and understanding Indonesia is dependent. The best that can be hoped for is a protracted reconstruction: the worst does not bear contemplation.