Jakarta – Indonesia's former armed forces commander General Wiranto has accused President Megawati Sukarnoputri and her predecessors of failing the reform movement.

"None of the governments has been capable of taking the nation out of the crisis, let alone promoting the people's welfare," Gen Wiranto said on Wednesday, quoted by the Antara news agency.

The retired general, who was sacked by then president Abdurrahman Wahid in early 2000, was addressing a seminar here on "Indonesian Democracy in 2002".

He headed the powerful military when the President Suharto resigned in May 1998 amid mounting public pressure and unrest.

He was also head of the armed forces during East Timor's bloody vote for independence in 1999 and has been accused of responsibility, by virtue of his position, for the death and destruction that surrounded the vote.

Gen Wiranto has seldom appeared in public since his sacking. His appearance on Wednesday was the second time in six months that he has used an address to a seminar to proclaim the betrayal of the reform movement which forced Suharto from power.

"The heart of the issue is a political competition which cannot be managed rationally," he said. He said there had been increasing competition among political groups, which had the potential to destabilise the coalition backing the Megawati government.