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Wahid Could Declare Marital Law, Call in The Military
SYDNEY, June 27 (News Agencies) - Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid warned Wednesday he was prepared to declare a state of emergency and call in the military to save his presidency.
Speaking at the end of a landmark bridge-building visit to Australia, the beleaguered leader, who presides over the most populated Muslim country, said he would refuse to appear before a special parliamentary session, scheduled for August 1, which could impeach him.
"It is easy, I just declare an emergency," the near-blind Muslim cleric told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio, reiterating a threat he first made last month.
And while he said the Indonesian military was in chaos -- "like the politicians" -- Wahid insisted it would obey him in such an eventuality.
"Those people already declared they will do anything the supreme commander will order," he said, sounding relaxed during the interview.
Wahid, who has already been censured twice by Indonesian lawmakers for alleged corruption and incompetence, said the risks of bringing in the military were not as great as the rest of the world believed.
He did not believe the use of the military would take Indonesia "to the edge of disaster."
"That is the concoction of those who try to enforce things on us. They make us afraid of the military."
However, Indonesia's most senior parliamentarian dismissed Wahid's threat, saying the military and police remained opposed to a state of emergency and that such a declaration would also be unconstitutional.
"Whether such (a declaration) is supported or not by the cabinet ministers, it doesn't mean anything, and must not be carried out," said Amien Rais, chairman of the upper house, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).
Hari Sabarno, an MPR deputy speaker from the military/police faction in the legislature, called Wahid's statements "illogical".
"He's not using his reasoning," Subarno said, saying the MPR would respond to any state of emergency by simply speeding up the implementation of its planned special session.
Wahid's two-day visit, the first by an Indonesian leader since 1975, was aimed at restoring ties damaged by Australian military intervention to end Indonesian-orchestrated violence in East Timor in 1999.
Wahid said he believed a new partnership could now be forged between Australia and Indonesia.
"I think we can be partners again," he told The Australian newspaper. "As of now, there is a grudge against Australia in Indonesia but it has subsided very much."
After leaving Sydney, the Indonesian leader flew to New Zealand for a trip also aimed at improving ties bruised by East Timor.
Arriving in a cold and rainy Christchurch for the one-night stopover, Wahid had talks with New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who told him it was imperative justice be sought for a New Zealand peacekeeper killed in East Timor.
Private Leonard Manning was killed and his body mutilated in the former Indonesian territory last July while he was serving as a United Nations peacekeeper.
Former pro-Indonesia militia commander Yakabus Bere was arrested in West Timor last January for Manning's murder and is awaiting trial in Indonesia.
"I did raise the matter with Wahid," Clark told a press conference following the talks.
"We have received a very encouraging report from Jakarta which shows that the matter is going to be pursued," she said.
"On the evidence we have received there are renewed efforts to track down and prosecute this man. We owe it to the memory of Private Manning and his family that this thug is put away."
Wahid was scheduled to leave New Zealand on Thursday and fly to Manila for talks with Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, with an overnight stopover en route in the northern Australian city of Darwin.
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