Lindsay Jakarta – After months of indecision amid a damaging power struggle in Jakarta, Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri has finally set conditions for taking over from the besieged President Abdurrahman Wahid.
Sources in her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle say Ms Megawati has come around to the view that she must move against Mr Wahid, a long-time friend with whom she has fallen out, to save the country from collapse.
Leading members of the party are so confident of her taking office soon that they have prepared a draft presidential acceptance speech in which she would ask all political parties to work together until elections scheduled for 2004.
But Ms Megawati, fearing that the politicians who elected Mr Wahid president in October 1999 only to turn against him could do the same to her, wants them to agree that she would not be challenged before 2004, party sources say.
Ms Megawati wants MPs to abandon the annual session of the People's Consultative Assembly, the top parliament, which has the power to sack and appoint presidents.
Party sources say she also wants to leave vacant the position of vice-president when she takes office and instead give greater power to ministers in her cabinet.
Analysts say Ms Megawati's aides are confident they will be able to negotiate acceptance of the conditions with the political parties that have abandoned their support for Mr Wahid, the country's first democratically elected leader.
The only significant party continuing to support Mr Wahid is his National Awakening Party, which holds just 11 per cent of seats in the parliament. The armed forces are also strongly backing Ms Megawati for the presidency.
Sources said that during a recent meeting with Ms Megawati, the chief of the army, General Endriartono Sutarto, urged her to be more aggressive and move faster against Mr Wahid. "Who do you love more, Wahid or the country?" General Sutarto asked her.
A source close to Ms Megawati said she had been deeply hurt by Mr Wahid's erratic behaviour as president, including perceived personal criticisms of her. She recently blindfolded herself for two hours and sat listening to classical music to try to better understand Mr Wahid, who is clinically blind.
For years Ms Megawati has referred to Mr Wahid as her brother, and Mr Wahid has called Ms Megawati his sister. She still insists on serving him breakfast each Wednesday morning at her home.
Sources say Ms Megawati is so troubled by having to move against Mr Wahid that she cried for two hours after she approved in February her party's support for a censure motion against him over two corruption scandals.
Ms Megawati remains adamant that any move against Mr Wahid must be done in accordance with the country's 1945 Constitution, which stipulates that only a vice-president can take over from the president mid-term.
Ms Megawati has approved a mass rally by her supporters on April 28 in Surabaya, the country's second-biggest city, where Mr Wahid is also popular. Observers say there may be clashes between Ms Megawati's supporters and Mr Wahid's supporters, many of whom have vowed to die in the fight to protect his presidency.
The planned rally is two days before MPs are expected to give their verdict in parliament on Mr Wahid's response last month to a parliamentary censure.
Analysts say Mr Wahid's best chance of avoiding impeachment is for him to negotiate a compromise during talks with the country's most powerful politicians, including Ms Megawati.