Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung's days are numbered as parliamentary speaker and party leader as foes within and outside Golkar conspire to establish a special commission to probe his involvement in a damning financial scandal.

Even as the battle-hardened Mr Akbar stood defiant in the face of a potentially long-drawn fight, legislators across party lines were veering towards removing a politician who played a key role in ousting the last two presidents.

Sources told The Straits Times that the momentum was growing after President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party - Struggle (PDI-P), the largest parliamentary faction, appeared to close ranks to throw its weight behind setting up a probe team.

The key to the success of establishing an investigation would be how the 153 PDI-P members would vote in a planned plenary next month. A two-third majority is required in the plenary for the proposal to pass.

The PDI-P had initially been split on the matter, with Golkar seeking to use its links with Ms Megawati's husband Taufik Kiemas to get the party to back down from any political offensive. But senior PDI-P official Roy Janis disclosed yesterday that Ms Megawati had ordered party rank and file to "get tough" on corruption.

The scandal was another test case for the government that could prove to be a liability if it escaped proper parliamentary and legal scrutiny. "Ibu Mega has made it clear that she wants to rid the country of corruption. We will be expected to support a commission to see if Akbar is guilty."

Observers said that besides the PDI-P, other parties that once stood by the Golkar leader were also joining ranks against him. These included the National Awakening Party (PKB), the Crescent Star Party (PBB) and perhaps even the Muslim-based United Development Party (PPP).

Vice-President Hamzah Haz, who heads the PPP, had tried to put a lid on efforts to topple Mr Akbar, but party sources said that he had given up now given that there was growing pressure to act. Noted a PPP member who declined to be named: "A lot of members now see this as a chance to take revenge against Akbar for some of the things he has done against us in parliament."

Golkar is blocking such efforts. But even that wall is beginning to crumble. Over the past two weeks, the party tried to block without success attempts to hold a plenary, a precursor to the special commission being set up.

Forces within the party revolving around former economic czar Ginandjar Kartasasmita and members from the eastern Indonesian islands are riding on this wave of anti-Akbar sentiments. Sources said that they were quietly lobbying the PDI-P and other parliamentary factions to take a hard line on the matter.

Putting Mr Akbar in bad light would help the cause of several Golkar cadres. They are trying to topple him from the party leadership to clear the way for their own political ambitions ahead of the 2004 election.

But the beleaguered Golkar leader is not about to give up so easily. Sources close to him said that even if a probe team finds him guilty of siphoning 40 billion rupiah (S$7.6 million) from the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) to help Golkar's 1999 election campaign, he would not relinquish his party chairmanship.