Suharto’s Ruling Party Demands He Call It Quits

President Suharto’s 32-year run as the longest-serving leader in Asia appeared Wednesday to be coming to an end as his political party gave him two days to resign, offering a peaceful solution to what had threatened to be a bloody showdown.

Irsyad Sudiro, a leader of Suharto’s Golkar party, said that if the president didn’t comply, the parliament will meet Monday to schedule an emergency session of the People’s Consultative Assembly. The session’s purpose, by implication, would be to revoke Suharto’s mandate to rule.

The Jakarta Post, quoting unnamed sources, said Suharto would resign today, handing over power to Vice President B. J. Habibie at the state palace. There was no official comment.

The ultimatum, which came even as Secretary of State Madeleine Albright for the first time publicly called on the Indonesia leader to leave office to end his nation’s political and economic crisis, left Suharto with no options and no foundation of support.

The calling of an emergency session would fulfill the demand of the powerful military that a leadership change be constitutional. Indeed, the entire transition agreement was almost certainly engineered by the armed forces.

Political analysts agreed that--save for an unexpected or unlikely turn of events, such as a military uprising--Suharto’s reign would be over in a matter of days. Kompas newspaper of Jakarta reported that as many as 11 Cabinet ministers already had tendered their resignations.

The end has come with dizzying speed, as the result of a popular movement that gained widespread support after six students were shot to death by security forces May 12. The apparent final chapter of Suharto’s rule was written Wednesday as 40,000 Indonesian troops backed by tanks and attack dogs took over Jakarta and Suharto tried to stitch together a plan that would enable him to leave office on his own terms and with some dignity intact.

The massive military buildup, which took place as Jakarta slept, forced dissidents to cancel a downtown rally they had said would put 1 million anti-Suharto protesters on the streets. Their decision may have avoided bloodshed, diplomats said.

Amien Rais, who has emerged as Indonesia’s most prominent opposition figure, said he called off the rally at the eleventh hour after a general telephoned him to warn that another Tiananmen Square was in the making--a reference to the 1989 massacre in Beijing of hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of protesters. Rais did not identify the general.

“This is something we have to avoid,” he said. “I don’t want to see more innocent people sacrificed for the cause of removing Suharto.”

Despite the show of force in Jakarta, the military command let students continue their occupation of parliament. In other cities, as many as 1 million people, including 500,000 in Yogyakarta, marched peacefully. They called for Suharto’s resignation, a chorus that governments from Washington to Bangkok and Canberra, Australia, are now beginning to echo.

In Bali, rumors that as many as 4,000 radicals from other islands would descend Wednesday on Indonesia’s largest resort to incite violence and strike at Indonesia’s vital tourism industry were unfounded. But the island did see its largest demonstration since the national crisis began: 11,000 students, faculty and people from nonprofit organizations gathered at Udayana University in Bali’s capital, Denpasar, to march, hear speeches and hang Suharto in effigy.

Suharto, a crafty, tough 76-year-old former general, maneuvered in recent days, making major concessions that in effect represented victory for students. He appeared to have given them what they wanted, but still encountered resistance because he did not set a timetable for stepping down.

He agreed to carry out political reforms, name a new Cabinet and hold fresh elections in which he would not be a candidate. But opponents feared all this could take 18 months or two years. Alexander Downer, Australia’s foreign minister, Wednesday echoed a sentiment heard in other capitals and on the streets of Jakarta--this is too long and a “quick leadership transition” is needed.

Albright expressed for the first time the United States’ desire that Suharto quit, saying at graduation ceremonies for the U.S. Coast Guard in New London, Conn., that Suharto could make “a historic act of statesmanship” by stepping down.

In apparent awareness of the urgency involved, a Suharto aide said the membership of a reformation committee would be announced today. “Its first priority,” said State Secretary Saadillah Mursjid, “will be to discuss plans for the election and come up with a schedule which is rational and realistic.”

The election would lead to the departure of Suharto, who just two months ago was reelected unopposed to a seventh five-year term. At that time, any public demonstration against the authoritarian leader was unimaginable. Wednesday, at parliament, he was denounced in banners as a thief and hanged in effigy while students cheered and soldiers stood idly by.

But Suharto’s concessions clearly have bought him time and left students to ponder their next move. Their suspicions over his intent are not unreasonable. With Suharto, yes can mean maybe and contention is camouflaged by politeness. He signed, for instance, an International Monetary Fund bailout agreement three times--and thrice came back to renegotiate.

“We can’t lose the momentum,” said S. B. Tampobolon, a former assemblyman who joined the remarkable scene at the parliament building. “If we give Suharto any breathing room, he will start negotiating again and backtracking. That is his character.”

Almost everyone, though, was relieved that the huge rally planned for Wednesday was called off. Organizers might not have been able to get 1 million people in this jittery city out of their homes, but the possibility of a bloody confrontation between students and soldiers was still frighteningly real.

Overnight, the soldiers began moving into Jakarta in convoys of trucks, tanks and armored personnel carriers. They lumbered down the darkened boulevards and through riot-torn neighborhoods, and their presence sent an unmistakable message: The military was not going to let the demonstration happen.

When Jakartans awoke, they found their metropolis transformed. Major intersections had been barricaded. Barbed wire had been strung around key sites. Tanks had established fields of fire over the approaches to downtown, and Merdeka Square--where protesters were to have gathered--was ringed with 40 armored personnel carriers, hundreds of soldiers, mounted police and a unit of attack dogs.

Jakartans reacted by staying hunkered down in their homes, except for the area around parliament, where the mood was festive.

What was clear was that neither side was itching for a fight. Students at the parliament--wearing headbands with the slogan, “peaceful reform” spoke of the need for nonviolence and made no attempt to carry their protest to the streets.

And the soldiers kept their bargain, making no attempt to interfere with the protest as long as it remained within the grounds of parliament.

By Wednesday night, the barricades had come down and most of the soldiers had withdrawn. Jakarta cautiously stirred to life. Some cars and pedestrians took to the streets. A perilous moment had passed; and so too, perhaps, had Suharto’s political career.

* JAKARTA UNDER STRESS: City is a mixture of armed might, rebel spirit and riot devastation. A13