Lewa Pardomuan, Jakarta – Indonesia's top legislative body will elect a new president on October 20, bringing forward an event many hope will halt the country's leadership drift under the deeply unpopular incumbent, B.J. Habibie.
Members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) also agreed to curb the powers of the presidency – abused for decades under former long-time rulers Suharto and Sukarno – and moved towards formally releasing East Timor from 23 years of disputed rule by Jakarta.
"The date has been decided. The presidential election will be on October the 20th," Slamet Effendy Yusuf, deputy chairman of former ruling party Golkar, told reporters after a closed-door meeting of assembly members.
Other assembly members, including Sabam Sirait from the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P), confirmed the 700- seat MPR had agreed to bring forward the vote to October 20. A vice president is likely to be elected on October 21 and a new government chosen soon after that.
Legislators had wanted to bring the presidential vote forward from the previous November schedule, citing deep political uncertainty, economic crisis and popular unrest.
Lawmakers said it was likely violence-torn East Timor would win independence from the chamber but one official pointed to the potential problem of dealing with East Timorese who favoured integration with Indonesia.
"I think it will be difficult if we do not lift [the decree]," said Aisyah Amini, a senior member of the United Development Party. "There is a tendency we are going to do it. The problem is now how we pay attention to the aspirations of the pro-integration people."
Indonesia has little more than a caretaker government after the resignations of six ministers this week to take up MPR seats, leaving a quarter of the cabinet holding more than one portfolio.
The MPR includes 500 legislators from the newly convened parliament, the first to be freely elected in over 40 years. The two chambers are expected to elect speakers on Sunday and Monday, respectively.
The schedule for the presidential vote and the other elections are expected to be formally endorsed later on Saturday.
The assembly is also likely to set October 14 as the date for Habibie's accountability speech to the MPR – a report card on his own 16 months in office. If it is rejected, Habibie's already faint hopes of being re-elected would evaporate.
That would further shorten the odds on frontrunning candidate Megawati Sukarnoputri, whose PDI-P won the biggest share of the vote in parliamentary elections in June.
The unelected Habibie remains under massive pressure over East Timor's decision to break from Indonesian rule and a major banking scandal which has implicated members of his inner circle.
Golkar's Yusuf, speaking earlier to reporters, said the MPR wanted to weaken the powers of the presidency to avoid a repeat of past abuses in the world's fourth most populous country.
Indonesia has a presidential-style government similar to the United States. A powerful president forms government independently of the parliament.