Gen Suharto's resignation throws a sudden spotlight on the Malaysian Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, now the longest serving elected ruler in the region.
Political analysts said Gen Suharto's departure would inevitably stir awkward questions about Dr Mahathir's future. But they emphasised crucial differences between Indonesia and its northern neighbour, and said neither Dr Mahathir (72) nor his anointed successor, the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Anwar Ibrahim, appeared eager for a quick transition.
Dr Mahathir, in power for nearly 17 years, was long a supportive neighbour of Gen Suharto. As recently as last Saturday, Dr Mahathir exonerated Gen Suharto and all but blamed the IMF for provoking riots in Indonesia with its demand for a reduction of subsidies as part of an international rescue package.
"Certainly there are attempts to topple President Suharto by outsiders. As for Malaysia, there are attempts to topple me by outsiders," Dr Mahathir was quoted by the New Straits Times as saying in Sudan last week.
"Mahathir defended the indefensible at the weekend and looked foolhardy about the IMF," said Dr Abdul Razak Baginda, executive director of the Malaysian Strategic Research Centre, a private think-tank. "Now Mahathir is all alone. He must feel let down."
The opposition leader, Mr Lim Kit Siang, of the Democratic Action Party said Dr Mahathir had misread the Indonesian situation. "Mahathir has clearly misread not only the causes of the Indonesian economic crisis, he has also misread the aspirations of the Indonesian people that there can be no effective economic change without political and democratic reforms," Mr Lim said.
Mr Lim said that with Gen Suharto's resignation, Indonesia had joined Thailand and South Korea in embracing political and economic reforms, leaving Malaysia in the cold.
"I call on Mahathir to embrace political reforms and democratisation in Malaysia, including an all-out war against corruption, to create the conditions necessary for successful economic and financial change," Dr Lim said.
Dr Chandra Muzaffar, Professor of Political Science at the University of Malaya, said the death throes of Suharto's regime forced attention on Mahathir's years in power. "People will say, `Should someone be in power so long?' People are bound to ask this. Already I have begun to hear this in the last few weeks," he said.
Diplomats said there were some concerns about Dr Mahathir's family. Proximity to power might have materially benefited Gen Suharto's six children far more than Dr Mahathir's. But a controversial deal involving a company controlled by Dr Mahathir's oldest son, Mirzan, has stirred grumblings within the prime minister's United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) party.
In March, a company controlled by state oil firm Petronas bought ships and subsidiaries of Konsortium Perkapalan, 51 per cent controlled by Mr Mirzan Mahathir. The prime minister has denied that the deal, which gave Konsortium much-needed capital, was a bailout.