President Gus Dur refuses to quit

JAKARTA (JP): Despite increasing calls for his resignation, President Abdurrahman Wahid asserted on Friday that he would not step down and stressed that he will serve his full presidential term until it ends in 2004.

"No, I will not resign until my presidential terms ends," Abdurrahman said after Friday prayers in Ciganjur, South Jakarta.

Abdurrahman brushed off resignation talk as "psychological warfare".

He also dismissed rumors that the Indonesian Military Chief Adm. Widodo A.S. and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto would soon be replaced.

"No such thing like that is going to happen... because replacing top military leadership can't be done just like that, even if we wanted to replace a Dandim (military district chief), it would take weeks (to consider), so it's virtually impossible to replace an Army chief of staff in just three days," Abdurrahman said.

Abdurrahman laughed off rumors of his imminent resignation saying the only thing that needs to go down right now is his weight.

"Pak Wimar Witoelar (presidential spokesman) and I have been advised by my medical team to lose weight," Abdurrahman quipped to the laughter of everyone inside the mosque.

His remarks came amid heightened political tension in the capital following the House of Representatives' decision late on Thursday to issue a memorandum against the President for his alleged involvement in two financial scandals.

Speaking earlier at the Merdeka Palace, Abdurrahman reiterated his innocence in the scandals saying that "it is highly regrettable" that data used by the House probe were "not based on facts".

Thanks

But in an apparent bid to allay criticism and tension with the legislature, Abdurrahman also said he thanked the House for exercising its duty saying that the House probe into the two financial scandals was "a significant contribution to the country's democratic process and political education".

"I would still like to thank the DPR and hope that in the future the DPR will come and work together with the executive in solving problems that demand our attention," Abdurrahman told a snap press briefing.

The House special committee's report concluded that Abdurrahman allegedly played a role in the withdrawal and disbursement of Rp 35 billion from the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) foundation and that the President had been inconsistent in explaining the US$2 million donation received from the Sultan of Brunei.

Abdurrahman on Friday also apologized to the public for the tension created by his political dispute with the House and described it as part of Indonesia's political education.

"I would like to apologize to the public for the inconvenience created during this process of political education," Abdurrahman said.

Wimar, who was present at the press briefing, later reiterated that Abdurrahman would not resign.

"No, he is not going to resign but he is going to act on the mandate of the people to respond to questions from parliament and also respond with a very clear call for the acceleration of reform," Wimar said.

When pressed to elaborate on steps Abdurrahman would take to accelerate reform, Wimar replied: "He will pull out all the stops for action against KKN (corruption, collusion and nepotism) and legal reform that has so far been hindered by the fact that (Abdurrahman) has had to make compromises with political partners."

"(Abdurrahman) will accelerate action against corruption and violations of the law without having to conduct too many political compromises," Wimar added.

Wimar said that "in the past, efforts to eliminate corruption have faced difficulties as the President has had to make political compromises with those who were involved in corruption."

But now, Wimar said, since "it is clear that the public demands accelerated reform, the President will feel free to carry out reform with zero tolerance".

Meanwhile, outside the palace grounds thousands of people staged a rally demanding Abdurrahman's resignation.

Some 3,000 grouped under the Indonesian Islamic Student Association (KAMMI) marched from Al-Azhar mosque in South Jakarta after Friday prayers to the presidential palace in Central Jakarta.

They unfurled posters and two large banners stating: "There is one word for Gus Dur: Resign" and "Gus Dur is not an ulema. We only love ulemas".

The rally caused major traffic jams along Jl. Sisingamangaraja, Jl. Jendral Sudirman and Jl. MH. Thamrin.

KAMMI, who also staged a huge rally to reject Megawati Soekarnoputri as a presidential candidate two years ago, were later joined by dozens of students grouped under the Indonesia Student Consortium in front of the palace.

There were no major incidents during the protest.(jun/byg)