Gus Dur camp turns up the heat on Megawati

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid's camp turned up the heat on Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Wednesday, saying that she should immediately resign if she wanted to have a clean fight against the embattled President.

A top executive of Abdurrahman's National Awakening Party (PKB) suggested that it would be more elegant if Megawati formally positioned herself as an "outsider" in the run-up to a possible impeachment hearing against the President.

"If Mbak Mega wants to challenge the President she should quit the vice presidency first," PKB secretary-general Muhaimin Iskandar told reporters.

Muhaimin added that Megawati, who has been increasingly critical of the President over the past few days, should also be held responsible for the country's political crisis.

"Mbak Mega is still an insider, so as long as she is still the Vice President, she should not be complaining about the performance of the government," said Muhaimin, who is deputy speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR).

Last week it was Megawati's sister, Rachmawati Soekarnoputri, who suggested that the Vice President quit in the same way her predecessor Mohammad Hatta did in 1956 when he felt he could not cooperate with the first president, Sukarno, Megawati's father.

Defense Minister Mahfud M.D. admitted on Tuesday that Abdurrahman and Megawati were no longer united.

Tension between the two leaders had centered on the President's reluctance to acquiesce real executive power to Megawati, which her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle and Abdurrahman's other main rivals demanded, in order to avoid the impeachment process of the President by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

"If he's willing, he could hand over duties and authority. But it should be agreed upon by others," House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung said after addressing a discussion at the National Resilience Institute (Lemhannas) on Wednesday.

"If he doesn't want to, the DPR will go ahead with calling a special session (to impeach him) and there are no other alternatives."

"That's where his fate will be decided."

Akbar, who chairs Golkar Party, also said that a power-sharing scheme must be legalized by an Assembly decree to ensure its effective implementation.

"It must be backed by an MPR decree so that the President can not intervene and to make sure that the transfer of authority can be carried out effectively," he said.

MPR Chairman Amien Rais said earlier on Wednesday that "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.

The statement came as Abdurrahman warned earlier in the day that he would take tough action to defend the Constitution against violation by lawmakers.

He 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," Abdurrahman said in his opening speech at Lemhannas.

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

He did not elaborate.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto and United Development Party chairman Hamzah Haz had confirmed that Gus Dur, as the President is popularly known, considered declaring a state of emergency that would enable him to dissolve the House.

Abdurrahman challenged lawmakers to impeach him on Tuesday, but vowed not to leave the political stage without a fight.

Chief presidential spokesman Wimar Witoelar denied that the President 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," Wimar was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Wimar then called for a halt to attacks on Abdurrahman for the sake of the country.

"He really has not had a chance to work without being undermined politically. Why don't we have... a political moratorium and see if the government can function better without these constant attacks by the legislature and the media."

Despite the tension between them, the President still had his regular breakfast meeting on Wednesday at Megawati's official residence on Jl. Teuku Umar, Central Jakarta.

As usual, details of the meeting were sketchy with Wimar only saying that the talks had discussed "the general security situation in the country".

Also present on Wednesday were regular participants Mahfud, the Indonesian Military chief, National Police chief, the three Armed Forces Chiefs of Staff, Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Intelligence Chief Arie J. Kumaat. (byg/dja)