Jakarta – Indonesia will hold parliamentary elections on June 7 and elect a new president on Aug. 29, speaker of the house of parliament Harmoko said Thursday.

His statement follows a meeting between President B.J. Habibie, senior Cabinet ministers and legislative leaders at Parliament to discuss plans for the elections next year. Originally, presidential elections had been set for December 1999, and parliamentary elections for next May. The announcement of the election dates came amid widespread suspicion among student protesters that Mr. Habibie would delay the elections and stall other democratic reforms.

Yet many students are unlikely to be satisfied with the election timetable. They have demanded the immediate resignation of Mr. Habibie, who took office from Mr. Suharto in May after riots and protests against his 32-year authoritarian rule. Protesters say Mr. Habibie, who has urged students to halt their near-daily street rallies, is a stooge of his former mentor.

The nation's highest legislative body will elect a new president on Aug. 29, Mr. Harmoko said. However, the 1,000-member People's Consultative Assembly is beset with controversy. It is full of holdovers from the Suharto era and critics say it doesn't have the credibility to choose a new leader for the nation of 202 million people.

The assembly, which consists of all 500 members of Parliament as well as presidential appointees, met last month to plan the election and approve other political reforms. "The president will consistently and effectively implement the decrees of the recent (assembly) meeting," Mr. Harmoko said.