INDONESIA: HEAVILY ARMED TROOPS PUT ON HIGH ALERT IN JAKARTA AS EMBATTLED PRESIDENT WAHID AND PARLIAMENT HEAD FOR POTENTIALLY BLOODY SHOWDOWN

Record ID: 584785

  • Title: INDONESIA: HEAVILY ARMED TROOPS PUT ON HIGH ALERT IN JAKARTA AS EMBATTLED PRESIDENT WAHID AND PARLIAMENT HEAD FOR POTENTIALLY BLOODY SHOWDOWN
  • Date: 15th July 2001
  • Summary: (W3) JAKARTA, INDONESIA (JULY 17, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. SV: APCS PARKED IN PARLIAMENT COMPLEX 0.06 2. SCU: SOLDIER WITH MOUNTED MACHINE GUN 0.11 3. MV: SOLDIERS SEATED ON APC 0.15 4. VARIOUS APCS 0.22 5. SILHOUETTE ARMED SOLDIER 0.26 6. SV: SPECIAL POLICE MOBILE BRIGADE MARCHING 0.31 7. CLOSE UP BOOTS 0.37 8. WS: MILITARY COMMANDERS AND MPS WATCHING PARADE 0.43 9. SV: AMIEN RAIS SPEAKERS OF PARLIAMENT WATCHING 0.48 10. TILT UP/WS: MORE TROOPS WITH ANTI RIOT GEAR (2 SHOTS) 0.59 (W3) JAKARTA, INDONESIA (JULY 15, 2001) (REUTERS) 11. WS: INDONESIAN PRESIDENT ABDURRAHMAN WAHID IN CONFERENCE HALL 1.04 12. MV: WAHID ON STAGE 1.10 13. SCU: (SOUNDBITE)(Bahasa) WAHID SAYING "Whether it is proper or not I have made the decision to issue that decree (state of emergency) if we (Wahid and his political opponents) fail to reach a compromise solution" 1.28 14. LV: AUDIENCE 1.32 15. SCU: (SOUNDBITE)(Bahasa) WAHID SAYING "We cannot have the decree all of a sudden because we need the tools to enforce the decree. I am still questioning whether the Indonesian Military and Police will support the decree (state of emergency) even if it is ordered (by Presidential Decree.)" 1.53 16. SLV: WAHID WALKS OFF STAGE 2.00 (W3) JAKARTA, INDONESIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) 17. WIDE PDI-P PARTY CONFERENCE 2.03 18. MV: DELEGATES SEATED WEARING RED JACKETS 2.07 19. LV: INDONESIAN VICE-PRESIDENT MEGAWATI SUKARNOPUTRI SPEAKING 2.12 20. SCU: (SOUNDBITE)(Bahasa) INDONESIAN VICE-PRESIDENT MEGAWATI SUKARNOPUTRI SAYING "The constitutional political process has been in progress since the 1st Memorandum on February 1st. From that time the party (PDI-P) party has been observing the President's decisions and actions. It has brought us to the conclusion that a Special Session of Parliament to ask for the President's accountability is unavoidable." 2.54 21. MV: MEGAWATI OPENING PARTY CONGRESS 2.59 22. WIDE OF CONGRESS 3.01 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 30th July 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JAKARTA, INDONESIA
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Reuters ID: LVAE6TZRRNCSJPXRJ19UAEVT428K
  • Story Text: Thousand of heavily armed troops have been put on high
    alert in the Indonesian capital as the embattled President
    Abdurrahman Wahid and the parliament head for a potentially
    bloody showdown on Friday.


    Six thousands troops backed by armoured personnel
    carriers staged a show of force in the parliament complex in
    capital Jakarta on Tuesday (July 17).

    The ceremony was attended by military and police
    commanders as well as Amien Rais, the parliament speaker, and
    one of Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid's most vocal
    critics.

    A police spokesman said that security forces had drawn up
    plans to evacuate members of the supreme People's Consultative
    Assembly (MPR) if violence erupted during an impeachment
    hearing scheduled for August 1.

    But the showdown could come as early as Friday (July 20)
    with Wahid, who says he will not stand down, threatening to
    delcare a state of emergency and assembly members vowing to
    respond by launching an immediate hearing over his chaotic
    21-month rule.

    The Indonesian President, increasingly isolated and
    desperate in his bid to hold on to power as Indonesia's first
    democratically-elected leader, is threatening the state of
    emergency and early elections if his enemies push ahead with a
    planned session of the MPR due from August 1.

    "Whether it is proper or not I have made the decision to
    issue that decree if we fail to reach a compromise solution."
    Wahid told a recent student convention.

    Wahid is also increasingly at loggerheads with the army
    and the police whose support is vital in implementing a state
    of emergency and whose moral and political backing is crucial
    to his continued rule.

    Key police and army generals have publicly opposed a state
    of emergency and it is unclear if Wahid has enough support in
    the security forces or the civil service to carry out his
    threat.

    "We cannot have the decree all of a sudden because we need
    the tools to enforce the decree. I am still questioning
    whether the Indonesian Military and Police will support the
    decree even if it is ordered." Wahid said.

    Many see the support of Vice-President Megawati
    Sukarnoputri, Wahid's likely successor, and PDI-P, the biggest
    party in parliament, as critical to the president's political
    survival.

    Few expect him to be able to stay in office without it.

    Just last week Wahid suffered a further blow when a PDI-P
    congress unanimously supported an accelerated special session
    to impeach him.

    "The constitutional political process has been in progress
    since the 1st Memorandum on February 1st. From that time the
    party (PDI-P) party has been observing the President's
    decisions and actions. It has brought us to the conclusion
    that a Special Session of Parliament to ask for the
    President's accountibility is unavoidable" Megawati told her
    party faithful.

    Wahid has said the MPR does not have the right to make him
    account for his actions and that he would declare a state of
    emergency if his political foes had not agreed on a compromise
    to to stave off the impeachment session.


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