Lawmakers Vow to Push for President’s Ouster

Indonesian legislators vowed to push ahead with a drive to remove President Abdurrahman Wahid from office next month, ignoring his call for talks and rejecting a threat to impose emergency rule.

Irate after several parties boycotted a meeting he called in a bid to end the political crisis, Wahid warned that he would dissolve the nation’s two legislative houses and rule by decree unless his opponents abandoned their effort to oust him.

Unmoved by the ultimatum, leaders of the People’s Consultative Assembly decided at a late-night meeting that removal proceedings will go ahead as scheduled Aug. 1. They said proceedings will start immediately if Wahid tries to avert removal by taking action against the 700-member body.