Dean Yates, Jakarta – Indonesia's former ruling Golkar party said it would not withdraw its ministers from the coalition government despite the detention of its chief over a graft scandal, taking political heat off the president.

Senior Golkar leaders said they agreed at a meeting late on Monday to respect the legal process involving their powerful chairman, Akbar Tandjung, who is also speaker of parliament, but would respond by becoming more critical of government policy.

Some analysts had questioned in any case whether Golkar would have taken drastic steps such as trying to engineer President Megawati Sukarnoputri's ouster before the next election in 2004.

Megawati has pledged to crack down on graft but before the Tandjung case had taken little action, and despite his detention many remain unconvinced the affair will be vigorously prosecuted.

Golkar's pledge to stay in the cabinet had been foreshadowed in recent days when two of its three ministers in the government said they would not quit. Some Golkar officials had earlier suggested a boycott of parliament or quitting the cabinet.

"That is childish, the party has no such policy," senior Golkar leader Agung Laksono told reporters when asked about withdrawing ministers after the meeting finished around midnight. "Golkar will be more critical but will not become an opposition body. The party is still committed to working together with the government in bringing this country out of crisis."

The Attorney-General's office detained Tandjung last Thursday over the graft scandal, which involves the alleged misuse in 1999 of $4 million belonging to the state food agency Bulog. Tandjung has denied any wrongdoing and has yet to be charged.

Megawati's Indonesia Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) is parliament's largest, holding around a third of the seats. Golkar is the second biggest, and could disrupt her rule.

But for all the criticism of Megawati's leadership, she has not made political enemies like her predecessor Abdurrahman Wahid, sacked last July for incompetence following a concerted campaign by MPs to oust him.

A number of politicians have also stressed they would not try to bring down Megawati before her term ends, arguing that would be destructive to Indonesia's fledgling democracy.

"From the start all of us knew that their threat was nothing but empty words. In many ways it would be more beneficial for Golkar to keep their ministers in the cabinet because they can participate in decisions," Maswadi Rauf, a political analyst at the University of Indonesia, told Reuters on Tuesday. "Recalling ministers is not a good strategy because it would not improve their public image."