Military coup impossible: Amien

MATARAM, West Nusa Tenggara: National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman Amien Rais dismissed the possibility of a military coup if the upcoming general election failed.

"The military would take over the power only if too many people become crazy in Indonesia," he said here on Saturday.

He said he did not believe that the Indonesian Military would launch a coup against the legal government because such an action was illegal and unconstitutional. Such fears were baseless because the military came from the people and has fought to build the nation with the people, altogether, he said.

The National Front's chairman, Kemal Idris, said recently that the military could take over the power if the country turned to chaos after the election. He said the people would be angry if pro-status quo parties won the elections, thereby leading to total disorder.

Amien said that two communiques he made recently with other party leaders contained positive messages to the people to prevent pro-status quo parties from winning the elections.

One of the communiques made by Amien was with Abdurrahman Wahid, a founder of the National Awakening Party (PKB), and Megawati Soekarnoputri, chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), to join forces to block pro- status quo parties movements. (rms/49)