Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid appeared Wednesday to back away from threats to declare a state of emergency amid renewed hopes of a compromise with his likely successor, vice president Megawati Sukarnoputri.
"(There is) a great possibility that it won't be implemented," Wahid's spokesman, Adhie Masardi, told Satunet news.
"This is based on positive signs that a compromise is increasingly likely."
Stock prices and the rupiah both rebounded on the news, brokers said, with share prices closing 1.5 percent up.
Wahid had threatened to declare a state of emergency at 6:00 pm (1100 GMT) Friday and dissolve parliament to avoid impeachment.
But a last ditch effort was underway to get Wahid and his estranged deputy to agree to a proposed compromise under which the president would transfer all his powers to Megawati, an opposition MP said.
Four political leaders, including opposition figures Akbar Tanjung of the Golkar Party and Hamzah Haz of the United Development Party (PPP), had agreed to lobby for the proposal, PPP secretary general Ali Marwan Hanan told AFP.
But Megawati, who stands to become president if Wahid is forced from office, appeared to rule out a compromise before the August 1 special assembly session.
"In the face of the problems besetting our nation a special session can no longer be avoided," the head of the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI), Umar Shihab, the head of a Muslim delegation, quoted Megawati as saying.
Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), the largest party in parliament, also rejected the proposal as "not credible."
"A process of compromise must be preceded by confidence building measures, which we have yet to see," PDIP deputy parliamentary leader, Heri Achmadi, told AFP.
"Instead, alongside this kind of lobbying, we've got Gus Dur (Wahid)... continually making threats."
But another PDIP executive, Pramono Anung, soft-pedalled the party rebuff, saying any compromise had to first "go through a special session" of the national assembly.
Wahid himself was upbeat about prospects for a compromise.
"I'm sure that conditions are well under control, there will be a compromise," he was quoted as saying by the state Antara newsagency.
The near-blind president said he had checked with Tanjung, Haz and Darusman on their progress. "We'll see how it goes," he told reporters in Bali.
Masardi said the four who had agreed to lobby for the compromise understood its importance.
"There are signs of an understanding among the President's dialogue partners that the affairs of the nation are more important than the personal affairs being pushed by the DPR (lower house of parliament)," he was quoted as saying.
Wahid had already given signs of backing away from his emergency declaration threat on Tuesday.
"I can use my power as a president to do this and that against others, but I will never do it," Wahid was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Post.
The military, the police and even Wahid's own top security minister have said they would not support an emergency declaration.
Lawmakers have said they would immediately hold a snap impeachment hearing within two hours of any such declaration.
The national assembly is scheduled to convene a special session from August 1 to conduct impeachment hearings against Wahid on the grounds of alleged incompetence and financial impropriety.
Wahid has added a new twist to the political turmoil, saying that if he is toppled, Megawati must go too.
"If one leaves, then the other must also leave," he was Wednesday quoted as saying by the Jakarta Post.
"There is no separation between the president and the vice president." -- JAKARTA (AFP)
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