With his political base crumbling, Indonesia's President Suharto is to address the nation of 200 million people today in an apparent attempt to defuse a mass demonstration tomorrow calling for his resignation. Last night the Indonesian armed forces commander, Gen Wiranto, sitting in the Defence Ministry beneath portraits of Gen Suharto and the Vice-President, Mr B.J. Habibie, dismissed a surprise plea from the speaker of parliament, Mr Harmoko, for Gen Suharto to resign. Gen Wiranto said it had "no legal basis".
The parliamentary speaker is number three in the political hierarchy and up to now has been a staunch Suharto loyalist. The general told reporters that people should not break the law tomorrow "driven by this excessive current of freedom". The current he referred to produced extraordinary scenes at parliament, where 2,500 student leaders from several universities were allowed to gather and shout insults about Gen Suharto for six hours while government critics argued with parliamentarians inside.
Gen Wiranto said the army favoured "the establishment of a reform council whose members would include the government and all the community, especially campus figures and critics". This council will work intensively with parliament, he said.
Such a move, unthinkable before last week's mayhem over the shooting dead of four protesting students which claimed more than 500 lives and left Jakarta's suburbs in ruins, appears designed to co-opt the student movement without bringing about the immediate resignation of Gen Suharto.
A reform council had been proposed by Mr Amien Rais, the leader of 28 million Muslims, but as a transitional body to create new government structures after Mr Suharto's resignation. Under the Indonesian constitution a new president would have to be chosen by an extraordinary session of the 1,000-member Consultative Assembly, which normally meets once every five years.
If Gen Suharto steps down before that, Mr Habibie will become president, but he is considered a crony of Gen Suharto and has no popular support.
Mr Rais said last night that mass protests against President Suharto would go ahead tomorrow despite the general's statement.
"For sure, on the 20th of May this month a kind of people power will take place in different cities, including Jakarta, and I think the message will be very clear that Suharto has to go," he said. "There is no other alternative." He called Gen Wiranto's statement "nonsense" and "a most irrational decision taken by our armed forces leader. The most dangerous thing that we have been fighting against could take place - confrontation between the people and the security apparatus."
Tomorrow is National Awakening Day in Indonesia, the 90th anniversary of the country's first nationalist movement. The armed forces intelligence chief told reporters that Gen Suharto (76) was "calm" and would explain political developments today. The Indonesian President has remained out of sight since cutting short his visit to Egypt on Friday. He is expected to announce a cabinet reshuffle in his address to the nation.
Mass burials in paupers' graves were held yesterday for the unidentified bodies pulled from four shopping malls burned down during last week's mass disturbances. Wooden boxes, some unsealed, were dumped into holes dug in the ground while relatives held cloths to their faces because of the stench.