Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Relations between President Abdurrahman Wahid and his Vice-President, Megawati Sukarnoputri, have soured dramatically, raising questions about the stability of the country's coalition government.

Laksamana Sukardi, a key official of Mrs Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, told the Herald the relationship between the longtime friends was "at its lowest level".

Mr Laksamana, a former economic minister, said that Mrs Megawati, the country's most popular politician, wants to teach Mr Wahid a lesson. "Yes, they are still talking, but the relationship has been tarnished because Gus Dur is not respecting her," Mr Laksamana said, referring to Mr Wahid by his popular nickname.

Mrs Megawati has allowed officials of her party, the country's biggest, to summon Mr Wahid before parliament next week to explain why he sacked Mr Laksamana, who has a reputation for honesty, from his Cabinet early this year.

A mid-August session of the People's Consultative Assembly has the power to impeach Mr Wahid, but he is expected to survive any move against him. Mr Wahid will give an account to the assembly of his first nine months in office, which have seen the eruption of religious and communal violence and a series of scandals surrounding the presidential palace.

Some MPs have declared they would like to see Mr Wahid replaced, while support is growing among the political elite in Jakarta for the appointment of a hands-on prime minister who would make many of the government's day-to-day decisions.

In an interview in his Jakarta office, Mr Laksamana criticised Mr Wahid for failing to understand economic issues and refusing to delegate authority to those who do. He said Mr Wahid, whose National Awakening Party won only 11 per cent of the vote at the election, was "insulting" the main parties and would have to suffer the consequences.

"There's some sort of unanimous concern among parliament members, the party leaders, that if he [Mr Wahid] continues the way he is ... the economy will collapse, trouble will escalate, it will lead to disintegration," he said. "It's a kind of unanimous concern that he should not continue." But Mr Laksamana said MPs were worried that impeaching Mr Wahid would bring thousands of his supporters onto the streets.