Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – The Defence Minister, Mr Juwono Sudarsono, says there is a plot to destabilise Indonesia ahead of an August session of parliament at which some MPs are expected to challenge the presidency of Mr Abdurrahman Wahid.
Mr Juwono said groups linked to former president Soeharto had sent men "everywhere" to incite riots in the lead-up to the annual meeting of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the country's highest parliament.
Speaking in Jakarta, Mr Juwono said he believed the campaign of destabilisation was intended to pressure the Government over investigations by the Attorney-General into allegations of corruption by Mr Soeharto during his 32 years in power.
"This is a fact, that most riots are connected with the investigation process concerning ... [Soeharto] or some other cases," he said. When in power Soeharto often used the youth wing of his party, Golkar, to incite riots or attack political opponents.
People close to Mr Wahid, the country's first democratically elected president, have been privately warning for months that Soeharto family and cronies have access to hundreds of millions of dollars that they could use for attempts to destabilise the country.
The Attorney-General, Mr Marzuki Darusman, has said that Soeharto, 79, will be presented with charges by mid-August, about the same time as the MPR is to be convened. Prosecutors are also pursuing scores of allegations of corruption against Soeharto's six children and his cronies.
Some of Mr Wahid's political rivals, including conservative Muslim leaders, want the MPR to pass a vote of no confidence in his leadership, which has failed to revive the economy and has been embroiled in a corruption scandal involving the state food distribution agency, Bulog.
Fears of a destabilisation campaign have intensified following recent violence in Central Sulawesi, where 123 people have been killed and hundreds wounded. Violence continues unabated in the 1,000-island Ambon chain, where Muslim fighters have arrived from other areas to reinforce attacks on Christians. Bloody separatist violence also continues in Aceh province, despite a truce between separatist rebels and Jakarta.
The head of the armed forces, Admiral Widodo, warned on Tuesday that anarchic and destructive acts were on the rise. "The people's dynamism is marked by unrest ... anarchic and destructive actions continue to emerge," he said.
Admiral Widodo said there was no common vision on how to rebuild the nation, and signalled tougher action against separatist movements in Aceh and Papua.
Admiral Widodo said Jakarta's tolerance of Papua's independence movement had been abused. The Government funded a landmark congress on the future of the resource-rich province early this month at which almost 3,000 delegates demanded independence from Jakarta.
Despite Mr Wahid's promise before the congress that Papuan leaders were free to express their political aspirations, two independence leaders have been questioned this week and named as suspects in a police investigation into the separatist movement in the province.
The Indonesian Observer reported that Mr Theys Eluay, the congress chairman, and its secretary-general, Mr Thaha al-Hamid, face treason charges. Fomenting separatism can carry a sentence of life in jail.