Military coup impossible: Amien

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)