Jakarta - President Abdurrahman Wahid of Indonesia yesterday raised the stakes in his increasingly desperate attempts to hang on to power by threatening to declare a civil emergency if parliament went ahead with efforts to impeach him.
A civil emergency is one step below martial law and would give police wide-ranging powers of search and arrest and impose a curfew and press censorship, though a civil administration would remain in charge.
But it is far from certain that the security forces, which have been increasingly favouring his estranged vice-president, would follow the order.
"President Abdurrahman Wahid sees a civil emergency as an alternative if a special session is implemented," a presidential spokesman said.
He said if the session went ahead "the reaction from people would be uncontrollable" but added Mr Wahid was still trying to convince members of parliament to change their minds.
Parliament meets on Wednesday to decide whether to take its two formal censures of Wahid a step further and call on the top legislature, the People's Consultative Assembly, to convene for impeachment hearings.