Jakarta – Leading Indonesian politicians met at a Jakarta mosque for what media reports said Saturday were talks on dumping President Ambdurrahman Wahid, now overseas, and replacing him with Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

But the politicians, who met Friday and included arch-Wahid foe and national assembly speaker Amien Rais, all made it clear at the meeting they were not planning a coup.

At the meeting in Jakarta's Al Azhar mosque, the "unspoken conclusion" was that any change of leadership should be constitutional, Rais was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Post.

Wahid, who has been under fire since being censored by parliament on February 1 over his alleged role in two corruption cases, is on a Haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. He is due back in Jakarta on Tuesday.

"I guess the people of this nation should mentally prepare themselves to face another change of leadership," Rais said.

Among those present at the mosque talks were Megawati's husband, businessman Taufik Kiemas, and leaders of her Indonesian Democracy Party Struggle (PDIP), the Muslim- oriented United Development Party (PPP) and the Golkar Party.

The PDIP and the Golkar Party hold the largest and second-largest blocks of seats in parliament and the national assembly.

Wahid – a clinically-blind Muslim scholar – became Indonesia's first democratically-elected president in October 1999 with the stated goal of freeing the country from the legacy of 32 years of Suharto dictatorship.

He won early kudos for taming the all-poweful militiary, but his popularity quickly nosedived, with whiffs of scandal tainting the palace, clashes with parliament and his engmatic style of governance.

His frequent jaunts overseas and refusal to return home despite the massive bloodshed in Borneo while he was touring the Middle East and North Africa, brought the criticism to a head.

The main obstacle to Megawati assuming the presidency, the rejection by Islamic parties in this Muslim-majority country of having a female president, appeared to have been swept aside in Friday's meeting.

"Muslim people would never have a problem with with a female leader ... since Mega is a true Muslim, we do not see any problem in supporting her to replace Gus Dur (Wahid's nickname)," the Post quoted the Islamic-oriented Justice Party chairman Hidayat Nurwahid as saying.

But on Saturday, the president's National Awakening Party (PKB) hit back with a lengthy statement, a copy of which was recieved by AFP, warning that politicians such as Rais were not to be trusted.

It was the PKB alone, which had fought in the October 1999 elections, for the right of a woman to be president. But it lost the battle because of "bulldozer-like opposition" by the Muslim-oriented parties, it said.

The Muslim parties now meeting with Megawati's PDIP must have a "hidden agenda," the statement said, as they had never withdrawn their opposition to a woman being president, and in fact had reaffirmed it at a recent congress.

"They are not sincere," it said, in a warning apparently aimed directly at Megawati, whose support is seen as crucial in keeping Wahid in power.

Megawati, a daughter of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno, has remained silent on her possible rise to power. But earlier in the week she said publicly for the first time that she had never backed Wahid for the presidency.

The military, whose parliament faction backed the censure of Wahid on February 1, warned on Thursday that they would not tolerate a coup.

"It's up to the people to decide whether Gus Dur should resign or stay. But the Indonesian military will always uphold the Constitution in observing all attempts to unseat or express support for the President," army chief of staff General Endriartono Sutarto said.