[Tomorrow Indonesia's National Assembly the MPR is to begin its annual session. Over ten days 500 assembly members will vote on groundbreaking changes to Indonesia's constitution. But first up on the MPR agenda is President Megawati Sukarnoputri's 12 month progress report to the assembly. Dissatisfaction with Megawati's leadership is also growing even within her own party.]

Presenter/Interviewer: Tricia Fitzgerald, Jakarta

Speakers: Former PDIP MP Indira Sugondo; PDIP MP Jacob Tobing

Fitzgerald: Members of Megawati Sukarnoputri's the PDIP, staging a protest in Jakarta. They were commemorating an attack on Megawati's party headquarters in July six years ago. Five party members were killed and dozens of people disappeared permanantly in the attack, which was a crack down by former President Suharto. At this year's memorial rally, though PDIP supporters weren't just attacking Suharto. They were also attacking their own party leader President Megawati.

Mr Permadi, a Member of Parliament for Megawati's party, who says the president has failed to push for an investigation into the killings at her headquaters, a sign he says she is forgetting the supporters whose protests carried her into power.

Former supporters and critics of the President say she has doesn't communicate with the public or her party members and that she refuses to open herself up to the media. Several PDIP members of parliament have already either quit the party or resigned from the parliament. Among them is Indira Sugondo who resigned her seat in disgust at what she says is Megawati's autocratic style off running her party.

Sugondo: I don't see that there is any democracy in the party. We have to represent what Mega says and not what the people we are representing in the house say. Fitzgerald: Indira Sugondo says Megawati's failure to attack corruption was another reason she left the parliament.

Sugondo: That was the main thing, or the main goals that Megawati said when she was addressing her public speech for the first time when she was elected as president to fight the KK. But I don't see any plan by her to do so.

Fitzgerald: Indira says Megawati's recent decision not to support a parliamentary investigation into corruption allegations against the Golkar party leader Akbar Tanjung is another sign that the president has dropped the ball on fighting corruption.

Sugondo: Oh, it's obvious that they are having some deals with the Golkar party. Of course I cannot tell you that this is what the PDIP itself decides. But the elite of the PDIP, especially in our case the leader, in this case Megawati. And she's also the president.

Fitzgerald: There's also anger inside and outside the President's party over her recent backing of the Suharto era commander General Sutiyoso for a renewed term as the Governor of Jakarta. Party members say they feel betrayed by this move as he was the general who commanded the Jakarta garrison at the time of the attack on the Megawati's party headquarters. But PDIP MP Jacob Tobing defends Megawati's appointment of General Sutiyoso.

Tobing: Jakarta is a barometer. And it's quite easy now to have bombs there, riots here, and sometimes that's kind of works that link to intelligence community. Who can understand it? But people with that background to handle that.

Fitzgerald: Mr Tobing claims President Megwati is still popular and says the concerns of Jakarta-based critics don't hold much sway with the majority of her supporters.

Tobing: No, we cannot conclude her position by only considering recent issues. We must look at it in a longer period. According to the independent international surveyor she enjoys still a very strong support from people. On the long-range issues, not on popular instant issues like Sutiyoso's problem or 27 July. If the portrait is made only of those issues, yes she has problems. But if we bring together all other factors and put in a longer period, she still has enough popularity.