Momentum grows for Wahid impeachment

By ACHMAD SUKARSONO

JAKARTA - Indonesia's Parliament has demanded President Abdurrahman Wahid face impeachment hearings as police fired shots in his heartland to disperse hundreds of his supporters.

With the threat of violence one of the last options left in his bid to cling to power, Wahid has said he will declare a state of emergency if MPs press ahead with their challenge.

Witnesses said 4000 Wahid supporters waving banners and carrying sticks were heading towards Parliament along a main street. This was causing traffic to snarl and raising the threat of clashes with armed police and soldiers in the capital.

Police fired warning shots in the town of Pasuruan, in Wahid's stronghold of East Java, to disperse hundreds of his supporters who went on the rampage for a second day.

The military parachuted in reinforcements to the town where the previous day pro-Wahid mobs torched two churches and attacked Government offices.

A soldier whose parachute failed became the first victim of the latest violence.

The increasingly isolated Muslim cleric is unlikely to win official backing to implement any emergency laws, with the military siding with his taciturn - but more predictable - Vice-President, Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Aides say Megawati - who will take over if Wahid is ousted - will reject an offer made late last week for her to become effective head of government, a move Wahid hoped would stave off the impeachment move.

MPs had already said they would take two previous censures a step further by calling yesterday for a special session of the top legislature, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), to start impeachment hearings.

"Our faction recommends Parliament ask the People's Consultative Assembly to hold a special [impeachment] session to ask for the President's accountability," Sophan Sophiaan, of the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P), told Parliament to widespread applause.

Megawati's party was joined by the former ruling Golkar party, ensuring a parliamentary majority to demand the MPR now debates Wahid's future.

That debate will probably take place in August, making the world's fourth-most-populous nation even more unsteady for the next two months.

Parliament was expected to formally vote on sending Wahid to an impeachment hearing later yesterday.

Of the 700 MPR members, 500 are from Parliament, which analysts say means impeachment of the Muslim cleric is very likely.

Wahid dismissed as "vague" Parliament's last censure, which rebuked him for his role in two financial scandals and more generally over his stumbling 19-month rule which has dragged Indonesia back to the brink of political and economic chaos.

On Tuesday, thousands of Wahid loyalists torched churches, attacked rival party offices and Government buildings in his stronghold of East Java province, underscoring the threat of bloodshed.

In the latest clashes in Pasuruan, protesters threw home-made stun bombs at police lines, witnesses said.

Most shops in Pasuruan and nearby towns had closed and shuttered their windows.

The Jakarta Post newspaper said Wahid's supporters had threatened to storm Parliament if MPs call for a special impeachment hearing.

The session comes at a particularly embarrassing time for Wahid, who on the same day opened a meeting of the Group of 15 developing countries, including several heads of Government, a few hundred metres from the parliamentary complex.

Ironically, one of them - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez - is also considering assuming emergency powers, accusing a minority opposition of trying to unsettle his country.

Thousands of police and soldiers have fanned out around central Jakarta to safeguard both Parliament and the convention centre where the G-15 leaders are meeting.

The prolonged Indonesian leadership crisis has taken a heavy toll on financial markets but as it reaches its climax there is a creeping sign of optimism that a change of leadership is near, giving a slight boost to share prices.

The Post quoted House Speaker Akbar Tandjung, long a foe of the President, as saying Wahid could still declare a state of emergency.

"It is still possible for Gus Dur [Wahid] to impose the measure," Tandjung said.

"We have to anticipate all possibilities."

Chief Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said the President planned to carry out his threat of declaring a state of emergency in a nationally televised address on Monday.

But opposition from the military and cabinet forced him to drop the idea and issue an order for the restoration of security instead.

Police around the country are on full alert and have been ordered to take tough action against troublemakers.

They have also been issued with live ammunition, an ominous sign that the situation could get worse.

- REUTERS


Feature: Indonesia

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