Semarang – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said yesterday that his government will propose that the country's next president and vice-president be elected directly by the people in 2004.

Speaking at the opening of the first congress of the Indonesian Democracy Party-Perjuangan (PDI-P), he said the proposal would go to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the country's highest legislative body, at its general assembly in August.

"The government will propose that the elections of the president and vice-president be held directly," he said to applause. In that way, we show our respect to ... the people who are of the opinion that the political system has deviated from the people's will."

Under the current system, the president and vice-president are elected for a five-year term by the MPR – composed of 462 elected MPs, 38 military appointees and 200 appointees representing the regions and non-political organisations.

The PDI-P of Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri won last year's parliamentary elections, but she did not become president automatically. In the end, she was elected Vice-President by the MPR, while Mr Abdurrahman, who was fielded by a coalition of small Islamic parties, was elected President in October.

Mr Abdurrahman also said that resource-rich Irian Jaya province would never be allowed to break away from Indonesia although its leaders were allowed to express their views on independence. Indonesia is facing calls for independence in the provinces of Irian Jaya and Aceh and these have grown louder after East Timor voted to break away from Jakarta's rule last August.

Ms Megawati, addressing the same congress in this Central Java town yesterday, said the country's political life was still "far away" from being a true democracy. "We are not yet ready to accept the usage in democracy that gives the main rights to the political force that wins in elections," she said. "We are also not yet ready to accept a political defeat or victory as something normal in the process of democracy."

She also said the country needed to deal with the tendency to move towards national disintegration, and the increasing use of violence and conflict in handling society's problems.

The party congress, the first since the PDI-P was established in 1998, is due to elect a new party leader and map out a strategy for the next five years. The meeting is being seen as a test of the leadership abilities of Ms Megawati, who has been criticised by some in the party for not cracking down on dozens of corrupt officials. Other have questioned her ability to lead.

And when addressing members at the congress opening, she stressed that the populist party must find a new direction and develop itself as "a modern party that places the people in the centre of our activities".