Indonesian MPs call for 'acceptable government'

Wahid, with daughter, threatens 'tough action' against, what he says, lawmakers' attempts to violate the constitution

By staff and wire reports

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- In a rare show of unity, Indonesia's political parties have come together to warn that without an acceptable government the fragile country's huge problems will never be resolved.

Leaders of various political factions in Indonesia's parliament -- including those from President Abdurrahman Wahid's National Awakening Party (PKB) -- met Wednesday to discuss a wide range of issues.

However, they refused to say whether they had spoken about impeaching Wahid.

The president is under increasing pressure after parliament censured him twice following allegations of his roles in two multi-million dollar financial scandals.

Opposition lawmakers have indicated they would like to hold a special session to impeach Wahid, who so far has denied any wrongdoing in the scandals.

Faction chiefs declined to directly answer the reporters' questions about a special People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) session, nor even say if they discussed it.

MPs had earlier said debating a change in national leadership and timing of a possible impeachment hearing would be high on the agenda.

Effective government needed

Lawmakers call for 'an effective management in the government'

"We agreed that we need to have effective management in the government..." Sutradara Ginting, faction leader of the small Justice and Unity Party, told a news conference on Wednesday.

"Without an acceptable government it will be impossible to solve our major problems. This effective government should gather support from all parties," he added, without elaborating.

Abdul Kholiq Ahmad, PKB faction secretary, also echoes the same sentiment.

"We need to have that because we cannot allow the country to remain in its current transitional process. We need to change the condition of the country as soon as possible," he said, as reported by The Jakarta Post.

However, when asked whether this was a sign of PKB showing a willingness to support a special session, he said: "We did not talk about a special session. We talked about political efforts to help us get out of the crisis."

The faction chiefs said they focused on three key points at the meeting -- how to avoid Indonesia's disintegration, tackling pressing economic problems and upholding the law.

Political party leaders are scheduled to meet again next week, although no agenda has been fixed.

'Logical'

MPs attending the meeting said individually that a special impeachment session appeared inevitable given Wahid so far has refused to respond to the second parliamentary rebuke or agree to share power with the popular Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

"That's the logic," Hery Akhmadi, a senior MP from Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting.

"The president has rejected the second censure, which means parliament will ask the MPR (the top legislature) to hold a special session," he said.

PDI-P, the largest party in parliament and the MPR, is led by Megawati, whom opposition lawmakers have tipped to replace Wahid if the Muslim cleric is removed from office.

Meanwhile, MPR Chairman Amien Rais, Wahid's utmost critic, said the MPR special session is the most secure way to solve the current political crisis, but he also said "it still remains a question" whether a special session of the Assembly would be geared toward the removal of the President.

"We should not jump to conclusions that (the special session) would be a political catastrophe for Gus Dur," Amien told reporters, referring to Wahid's nickname.

Tough action

Threatened with impeachment, Indonesia's first democratically elected president warned on Wednesday that he would take tough action to defend the nation's constitution against violations by lawmakers.

Wahid, who has denounced a campaign by Parliament to topple him as illegal, said attempts to broker a compromise to end a long-running crisis must not contravene the 1945 constitution that grants sweeping powers to the head of state.

"We can make any kind of political concession as long as it does not go against the constitution," the Associated Press reported him as saying at a military think-tank seminar on Wednesday.

"As soon as there is a violation of the constitution, as a nation we must be courageous and take action to prevent the erosion of the constitution."

Critics accuse him of failing to make headway on dragging the world's fourth most populous country away from the mire left by the regime of former President Suharto.

Wahid's supporters say the task would have confounded any leader.

"He really has not had a chance to work without being undermined politically," said Wimar Witoelar, his chief spokesman.

"Why don't we have... a moratorium on politics and see if the government can function better without these constant attacks by parliament and the press."

Witoelar also denied the cleric had said on Tuesday he expected to be impeached.

"He did not say he expects to be impeached... We have checked the recording... he recognizes the possibility of impeachment, he didn't say that he would be impeached," Witoelar told Reuters Television in an interview.

Reuters contributed to this report.