Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has stepped up pressure on national police chief General Bimantoro, demanding he relinquish all remaining commands of power, the Jakarta Post reported on Saturday.

Wahid ordered Bimantoro – among several senior security officials to publicly object to the president's threats to stay in power by declaring a state of emergency – to resign more than a month ago.

Bimantoro has previously refused to go unless parliament approved his dismissal, although on Monday he said he was willing to be replaced. That has created some confusion over whether Bimantoro still remained police chief.

The report said Wahid issued a decree on Friday ordering Bimantoro to return the command baton and all command attributes to the President.

"In a normal reshuffle, the outgoing police chief would hand over his baton to his successor. But as the new police chief has yet to be selected, Pak Bimantoro must return his baton to the superior, that is the President," the Post quoted chief security minister Agum Gumelar as saying.

Indonesia's parliament has formally warned Wahid over his move to sack the police chief, adding another black mark to the embattled leader's record only weeks before his impeachment hearing.

The top legislature will open Wahid's impeachment hearing on August 1 over his stumbling 20 months in power as Indonesia's first democratically-elected leader. Most analysts give the Muslim cleric little chance of survival. Wahid renewed his threat to declare a state of emergency on Friday, in what has become his key defence ahead of the hearing.