Besieged Indonesian president against the wall

Embattled Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid refused to discuss his growing political problems at a news conference yesterday, saying he would answer only questions on a summit of developing nations.

The news conference was called at the end of a two-day summit in Jakarta of the Group of 15 developing countries which has been overshadowed by Parliament's decision on Wednesday to call for an impeachment hearing against him.

Wahid said he would answer only questions relating to the summit.

The president's options at home are running thin after Parliament made further moves to impeach him and his own top minister warned him against declaring a state of emergency.

"He only can pray now," said Kusnanto Anggoro, political analyst at the independent Centre of Strategic and International Studies.

Speculation had been rife Wahid, a Muslim cleric, would carry out his threat to declare a state of emergency and dissolve Parliament if legislators went ahead with what was effectively a no-confidence vote on his chaotic 19-month rule.

That threat and the spectre of violence from his fanatical loyalists are about the only options Wahid has left.

About 200 supporters gathered in a Jakarta square under driving rain yesterday, saying they were waiting for their hero to declare the emergency.

"We will be very disappointed if he does not do it," said a suicide squad commander, Aris Rufey.



Wahid's chief security minister urged him not to dissolve Parliament after legislators voted overwhelmingly to call for an impeachment hearing.

"Issuing a decree in a situation like this is not appropriate and we hope this decision will not be taken," said Bambang Susilo Yudhoyono after meeting military chiefs who have told Wahid that they would not implement such an order.

Wahid supporters tried to storm Parliament during the vote for an impeachment hearing in a special session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) or upper house.

The protesters retreated when troops fired warning shots and later dispersed.



The attempt to storm Parliament and a rampage on Wednesday in East Java, the third in three days, kept the threat of widespread bloodshed hovering over the archipelago.

About 5000 Wahid loyalists turned out in Jakarta.

In Pasuruan in East Java on Wednesday, police fired warning shots to break up hundreds of other Wahid supporters and troops were parachuted in to help keep control.

One protester was shot dead and a soldier died after his parachute did not open.

Parliament makes up more than two-thirds of the Consultative Assembly, which makes impeachment of the Muslim cleric likely.

Declaring a state of emergency would allow Wahid to dissolve parliament and call a snap election.

The military, which has been cosying up to the taciturn but more predictable Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, has already told Wahid it would not follow the order.

Legislators said Wahid's impeachment hearing in the upper house, the only institution which can elect, or sack, a president, could be held within two weeks.



Slamet Effendy Yusuf, a senior legislator from the ex-ruling Golkar party, said the hearing over two graft scandals could take place in three days if Wahid declared a state of emergency.

"The chance of him staying in power is very, very, very slim," he said.

And aid agencies are preparing for a humanitarian crisis as the situation worsens.

Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of Oxfam Community Aid Abroad, said the Australian charity came up in March with full contingency plans for a humanitarian catastrophe. "We are ramping up."

- REUTERS

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