Jakarta – Indonesia's Golkar party said it would be ready to be in the opposition and hinted that there would be a shake-up of its executive board ahead of the next general election in 2004.

"Golkar is ready to be outside of the government and play a role as the opposition party," West Java regional representative Siti Kuraesin said, referring to a political statement drawn up at the end of a three-day party leadership meeting. But Golkar Deputy Chairman Mahadi Sinambela was quick to add that the statement was "only a signal" as there had not been any clear notion in the country so far of "how to be an opposition party".

Since former President Suharto stepped down, Golkar has been trying to disassociate itself from its past, cope with defections and unite reformist and old guard factions. In the last general election in July 1999, Golkar reaped 22 per cent of the vote, trailing behind the front-runner, the Indonesian Democracy Party-Perjuangan which garnered 33.7 per cent of the vote.

Another decree drafted at the meeting said that Golkar has given party chairman Akbar Tandjung the authority to reshuffle the party's executive board and to postpone its national congress until after the 2004 elections.

The statement came only two days after Mr Akbar launched a stinging attack on the government of President Abdurrahman Wahid saying that its inconsistent and controversial policies have pushed the nation closer to the brink of the country's worst multi-dimensional crisis.