Indonesian opposition say no deal with Wahid

Opposition politicians have dismissed Wahid's threat and claim on a compromise

By staff and wire reports

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- A compromise with Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid is unlikely before the top legislative body meets in August to discuss impeaching him, the country's two biggest parties have said.

Wahid aides have been frantically lobbying the main political groups -- nearly all of which want him out of office -- to try to block any move to impeach him.

The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) is due to hold a special session from August 1 to discuss possible impeachment and force Wahid to account for his shaky 20-month rule, which has seen the country fall deeper into a crisis that began in the late 1990s.

And opposition leaders have said an agreement with Wahid on a compromise to head off impeachment was unlikely, local media reported.

The politicians also denied Wahid's claim that Defense Minister Mahfud MD, part of the president's lobbying team, had succeeded in convincing major opposition parties not to raise four issues in the special session's agenda.

The four issues that the embattled leader wants to keep away from were the relationship between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government; his accountability report; his performance in the job and the relationship between the president and vice president.

Those are the issues the MPR could use to curtail his power or impeach him.

No agreement before special session

"As one of the party's executive board members, I've never heard anything about the deal claimed by the president," said Pramono Anung Wibowo, deputy secretary of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), as quoted by The Jakarta Post daily.

"I do not think a certain agreement will be made ahead of the special session," he added.

PDI-P, the country's largest party, is led by Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Mahfud himself also denied that a compromise has been struck.

"I only told the president that nobody refuses, but nobody accepts as well," he said as quoted by Republika daily. "Maybe Gus Dur (Wahid) got his conclusion from (other sources)."

On Saturday Wahid also warned that if anybody refused to sign a declaration agreeing not to raise those key issues, he would be forced to "uphold the constitution."

He threatened to call a snap election, and it is known that he once considered declaring a state of emergency which would allow the arrest of his opponents.

An official in the former ruling Golkar party, the second largest party, dismissed the president's warning.

"The president is dreaming that parties will bow down to his threats," The Jakarta Post quoted Bomer Pasaribu, deputy secretary general of Golkar, as saying.

Wahid's previous threats to impose a state of emergency -- one notch below martial law -- were flatly rejected by military and police leaders.

Reuters contributed to this report.