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Indonesia's Wiranto won't resign, lawyer says

JAKARTA: Indonesia's defiant former military chief General Wiranto, locked in a battle of wills with President Abdurrahman Wahid, will not quit the cabinet unless he is fired, one of his lawyers said on Saturday.

"Wiranto will not resign," Ruhut Sitompul, one of the legal team defending high-ranking military officers implicated in last year's violence in East Timor, was quoted as saying by the official Antara t analysts believe such a move is unlikely, a view reinforced in recent days by signs that key members of the armed forces were swinging their support behind Wahid.

Army chief General Tyasno Sudarto told reporters on Friday Wiranto had to follow orders, the first senior military officer to say so publicly, and Antara said a group of unnamed generals had pledged loyalty to Wahid and would press Wiranto to resign as coordinating minister for political and security affairs.

Wahid has repeatedly dismissed fears of a coup.

WAHID SET TO CONFRONT WIRANTO

Wahid is expected to move to end the damaging stand-off with Wiranto as soon as possible after he returns to Jakarta.

Wahid would undoubtedly win a face-to-face confrontation, but it would be damaging as he tries to cement his own fragile position and keep the lid on a fractious military angry at his efforts to kick it out of politics.

Some analysts do not completely rule out a compromise that would let Wiranto stay, but with his political power reduced.

But Wahid has called for Wiranto's resignation so many times over the last two weeks that most observers believe his credibility would be irretrievably undermined if he failed to sack the general.

Most analysts feel Wiranto's defiance is part of a strategy to secure immunity from prosecution or a pardon, and expect a deal to be struck between the two men, with Wiranto agreeing to quit the cabinet in exchange for protection from legal moves.

Wahid has already said he would pardon Wiranto.-Reuters