Chris McCall and agencies in Jakarta – Indonesians are bracing for more economic misery as their currency crumbles, sparking fears of a repeat of its 1997 collapse.
Supporters of President Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday staged their own demonstration outside the presidential palace, where thousands on Monday called for him to resign.
The protest was peaceful but will do little to convince the silent majority they are better off with the near-blind Muslim cleric in charge.
Across town, more than 3,000 students massed in the grounds of Parliament for a second day to demand Mr Wahid step down.
Later, in separate violent protests, at least three students were seriously injured when police fired tear-gas and charged a crowd of 500 attacking a Jakarta office belonging to the political party of former president Suharto.
In recent weeks, students have stepped up protests to demand Golkar disband. They accuse it of inciting unrest in various regions to win back power.
Moves to force Mr Wahid from office took a substantial blow yesterday. Chief Wahid critic and People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) chairman Amien Rais, who had over the past few days vowed to speed up the President's impeachment, said after a closed meeting of assembly leaders that they had dropped the plan for a special impeachment session of the MPR. "We have no constitutional basis," said Mr Rais, a former Wahid supporter.
In the market in Tebet, South Jakarta, the traders' talk is of doom and gloom. They blame Mr Wahid's refusal to quit, despite Parliament's overwhelming opposition to his Government. The President has privately declared there is "no way" he will step down voluntarily.
Stall-holder Arizal Amin, 50, said: "We will go back to 1997 if the dollar goes up and the rupiah falls. We can't predict what will happen. We, the people, are scared. Don't let it happen."
Mr Arizal said most Indonesians wanted Mr Wahid to go. "Only his home province of East Java still supports him," the trader said. "The longer he stays, the greater the chance of mass unrest."
Unfortunately, East Java is Indonesia's most populous province and its people have threatened civil war if President Wahid is ousted mid-term.
The country is in a far worse state than it was in 1998. It is facing belligerent rebel movements in Aceh and Irian Jaya, states of virtual civil war in the Malukus and Kalimantan, not to mention uncontrollable militia remnants in West Timor. Crime and lawlessness are on the increase nationwide and its economy has only barely started to recover from the collapse of three years ago.
This week, the Jakarta composite stock index sank below the 400 mark for the first time in two years and the rupiah has been wobbling around 11,000 to the US dollar after a sudden slide on Monday pushed it down to 11,500. Experts say the currency could well fall to 15,000, a level that has not been seen since the days after former president Suharto's 1998 resignation. At that time, inflation reached 80 per cent, curbing industry efforts to recover and indirectly throwing millions out of work.
As such effects filtered through into higher prices for ordinary Indonesians, a withdrawal of foreign investment and fewer jobs, the country erupted in an orgy of destruction that ultimately swept former president Suharto from office after a 32-year reign.
On May 13 and 14, 1998, Jakarta descended into an abyss of mass rioting, in which more than 1,000 people were killed. Very few Jakartans want to see that happen again.