Jakarta – Suspended Cabinet minister General Wiranto has denied that Lt-General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the military's former chief of territorial affairs, proposed that he should seize power amid the political violence preceding the downfall of former President Suharto.

Gen Wiranto was responding to reports which quoted him as saying that Lt-Gen Yudhoyono, who is now Mines and Energy Minister, suggested in early 1998 that he should launch a coup against Mr Suharto's authoritarian government.

"I never said that Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono proposed a coup," the general said on Thursday. "He only asked what I should do as the military commander at the time."

In May 1998, Lt-Gen Yudhoyono was chief of the military's socio-political affairs when riots and protests forced Mr Suharto to step down.

On Wednesday, Gen Wiranto told legislators in Parliament: "Bambang Yudhoyono told me the situation was very critical. "The government had difficulty maintaining its existence. 'Would you like to take over?'" he asked.

But on Thursday, the Indonesian Observer quoted him as saying: "What I said before the House of Representatives Commission was that I never intended to launch a coup, even though it would have been possible, because I knew exactly how risky and fatal that may have been for the nation and country."

He added that a coup would have violated the 1945 Constitution, caused huge numbers of casualties and created an apparently military government in Indonesia. The general was in Parliament on Wednesday testifying to the commission in connection with his alleged involvement in atrocities in East Timor after it voted for independence on August 30.