Police warn they 'will shoot' rioters in Jakarta

As many as 42,000 troops and police will be deployed in Jakarta

In this story: Show of force Green light RELATED STORIES, SITES

By staff and wire reports

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesian police are ready to shoot rioters during next week's critical session of parliament, in which President Abdurrahman Wahid is likely to be censured a second time.

About 40,000 police and soldiers will try to keep order in Jakarta, despite a large gathering of fanatical supporters of the Muslim cleric, some of whom have vowed to defend the president to the death.

"There is a procedure for shooting on sight. The police already know that," said national police chief Bimantoro told reporters.

Jakarta police Anton Bahrul added that during Monday's censure debate in parliament, police would begin to shoot rioters on sight after only three warning shots.

A spokesman for Wahid said on Thursday the president would not resign even if issued a second censure by parliament.

Wahid's supporters are already flocking to the national capital for a prayer rally on Sunday.

They arrived in hundreds of busloads from Wahid's political base in East Java, and many more are on their way to the capital to defend Wahid against parliament's expected second censure against the president.

Officials of the country's largest Muslim group, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), which Wahid once headed, said between 200,000 and 400,000 people would attend the mass prayer rally on Sunday.

Parliament gave Wahid the first memorandum in February over his alleged roles on two financial scandals.

Legislators will meet on Monday to respond to Wahid's rejection of the earlier censure; some opposition lawmakers have hinted the second one is inevitable.

Once the second censure is in place, it could lead to a special parliamentary session, which could impeach and remove the president from office.

A number of die-hard supporters, grouped in the Defenders of Truth force, have pledged their lives in defending the president and will likely to assemble at the parliamentary compound on Monday to observe the expected the issuance of the second censure.

Adding fuel to the fire, local media reported that some 1,500 Muslim warriors who have been fighting Christians in the ravaged islands of Moluccas were ready to help security forces safeguard the capital.

Show of force

On Wednesday, about 2,000 Indonesian troops and police staged a big show of force in Jakarta on Wednesday in an apparent warning to Wahid's angry supporters who have flocked to the capital.

As many as 42,000 personnel will be deployed in the capital, Defense Minister Mahfud MD said, as quoted by The Jakarta Post.

The troops and police, mostly armed with tear gas launchers, batons and shields, gathered at a huge field in the city's main square near the presidential palace.

Dozens of armored vehicles backed up the show of force, which was inspected by top military brass and Amien Rais, head of the country's top legislature and Wahid's most ardent critic.

NU chief Hasyim Muzadi said the group could not be held responsible for any disturbances during the rally.

"Security is not the responsibility of the NU, but it is the responsibility of the state," he told reporters.

Green light

Wahid dispatched Mahfud to go to East Java on Wednesday to convince his fanatic supporters not to come to Jakarta.

"I was ordered to go … to meet with local figures who have hundreds of thousands of followers who support (President Wahid), and urge them not to leave for Jakarta," Mahfud told reporters before he left for East Java.

Meanwhile, a leader of an opposition party said Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri has given a green light to her Indonesian Democracy Party for Struggle (PDI-P) to back a second censure of Wahid.

"As for (our party), we have a clear stance to go for the second censure," said former justice minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra, who heads the tiny Crescent Star Party (PBB).

"Then I asked her what about PDI-P, and Mega said, 'Yes, (we) will be like that too'," Mahendra said.

Megawati, whose party holds the most seats in parliament, so far has refrained from making direct personal statements on Wahid's controversy.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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