Indonesia's rival political parties came together in a show of unity on Wednesday to warn that without an acceptable government the fragile country's huge problems would never be resolved.
Leaders of various political factions from Indonesia's parliament met outside the house for half a day on Wednesday to discuss a wide range of issues, but at a news conference later they refused to say whether they had spoken about impeaching President Abdurrahman Wahid.
But MPs attending the meeting said a special impeachment session appeared inevitable given Wahid -- under fire for his alleged role in two financial scandals -- had so far refused to respond to a second parliamentary rebuke or agree to share power with popular Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri.
"That's the logic," Hery Akhmadi, a senior MP from Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P), told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting.
PARLIAMENT TO SEEK HEARING
"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 is the largest in parliament and the MPR.
Faction chiefs declined to directly answer questions about a special 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.
"We agreed that we need to have effective management in the government ...," Sutradara Ginting, faction leader of the small Justice and Unity Party, told the news conference.
"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.
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.
After an erratic 19 months as Indonesia's first democratically-elected leader, Wahid is close to losing his job and making way for his largely untested deputy -- JAKARTA (Reuters)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
