Vaudine England, Jakarta – The word being debated among foreign journalists in Jakarta is "mutiny". The police chief sacked last week by President Abdurrahman Wahid has refused to step down and his stance is being interpreted by the security forces as a reason for defiance of their own.

About 8,000 police and several hundred soldiers and Marines gathered in a central park near the presidential palace yesterday in what they said was a pre-planned ceremony. But in Jakarta's highly charged political context, the gathering seemed to be yet another show of defiance towards Mr Wahid.

His decision on Friday to make police chief Surojo Bimantoro "inactive" has provoked a series of meetings by senior police officers, generals and parliamentary faction heads. The message is that Mr Wahid must stop meddling in the institutions of law and order – or else.

The "or else" part has been left tantalisingly vague, but parliamentary leaders are looking for a constitutional excuse to accelerate impeachment moves against Mr Wahid. They say his bid to sack General Bimantoro without their say-so might be it. "We're not playing politics. We're professional. But we are not allergic to politics and General Bimantoro is still our leader," Jakarta police chief Major-General Sofyan Jacoeb said.

He presided over the 10-minute ceremony, which he claimed was held to congratulate police troops for their hard work during a summit of the Group of 15 developing nations last week as well as recent sessions of Parliament.

As well as the presence of men such as Jakarta military chief Major-General Bibit Waluyo, the parade included men from the army strategic reserve command, the marines and the air force, along with armoured vehicles and helicopters. General Bimantoro told the media he had refused to resign for what he said was his refusal to back the President's efforts to declare emergency rule.

Mr Wahid also might have wanted a more amenable police chief to help prosecute his parliamentary enemies for corruption, in another tactic aimed at stopping impeachment. Some analysts interpreted the surprisingly large gathering of police and troops as a sign from the security apparatus of its possible support for accelerated impeachment.

Mr Wahid replaced General Bimantoro with deputy police chief Chaeruddin Ismail on Saturday. But even this new recruit to power preferred to hug his former boss, General Bimantoro, in public instead of moving at Mr Wahid's behest to bring the police under presidential control.

Instead of proving Mr Wahid's claimed control over events, his clumsy steps against the police chief have instead highlighted his weakness.

Despite frequent attempts, he has been unable to impose emergency rule, to scare off Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri from a parliamentary confrontation or to deflect Parliament from its impeachment moves. General Bimantoro has insisted that under prevailing laws he remains the police chief until Parliament approves his dismissal.

Two weeks ago the armed forces carried out shows of force a stones' throw from the palace where Mr Wahid is ensconced. Now the police have joined in what is a new, subtle version of a mutiny by any other name.