As violence flared on the eve of the nation's 54th Independence Day, leaders of the main political parties launched a scathing attack on President Bacharuddin Habibie's state of the nation speech, saying it showed he lacked the will to weed out corruption.
The President's own ruling Golkar party seemed to be hedging its bets, with chairman Akbar Tanjung quoted as saying the party could reverse a decision to nominate him for a new term if potential allies rejected him.
"There is still a possibility for Golkar to review its presidential candidate if political parties eager to form a coalition reject Habibie's bid," he said.
Referring to the violence plaguing the nation, Mr Habibie pledged yesterday that whatever the outcome of the August 30 vote for self-determination in East Timor, the unity of the Indonesian Republic would be preserved.
He blamed escalating violence in Aceh on separatist rebels and demanded that they lay down their arms before troops could be pulled out of the province.
"The atmosphere of conflict, such as in Aceh for example ... has recently been worsened by an escalation of [activities of] armed security-disturbing movements," he said.
As he spoke there were reports that dozens of houses had been torched in two north Aceh villages and that a man pulling down an Indonesian flag was shot and wounded by a soldier.
In the eastern city of Ambon, in Maluku province, 10 people suffered gunshot wounds and several houses and a church were burned when security forces opened fire near the airport.
A mob of villagers attacked and burned to the ground a resort near Padang, West Sumatra province, over long-standing grievances against unmarried couples staying there, local residents said.
Mr Habibie's speech also addressed the need for a continued economic recovery, but he failed to mention a specific agenda to handle the ailing bank sector and the weakening of the rupiah, critics said.
"There is a major scandal with banking recapitalisation," Ekky Syachrudin, another Golkar leader, said.
"He mentioned ... only that there will be stern action, but what?" he asked. Mr Habibie briefly mentioned that external factors and problems in the bank restructuring programme accounted for the weakening of the rupiah but declined to give specific policies to deal with the country's economic woes.
"Therefore, the Government is committed to resolving various problems that hindered bank restructuring ... we hope the rupiah will recover soon," Mr Habibie said.
The speech was widely seen as his first major reply to popular opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri, who effectively launched her presidential campaign last month.
Ms Megawati's campaign received a boost from a leading group yesterday when the moderate Muslim National Awakening Party expressed its support for her presidential campaign.