Indonesian President Set New Deadline on State of Emergency: MinisterIndonesian Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs Gen. (ret.) Agum Gumelar Friday Morning said the president has set new deadline for issuing a decree on state of emergency.Speaking after meeting with the president here, Agum said the president will not issue decree on state of emergency on Friday. But the president will issue the decree on July 31 if political compromises with his political foes cannot be reached by that time, the minister added. Earlier, Cabinet Secretary Marzuki Darusman told Xinhua that there is still no plan to issue decree on state of emergency till now. President Abdurrahman Wahid Thursday reiterated that he would issue a decree on state of emergency on Friday evening at 18:00 p. m. local time (11:00 GMT) if political compromises with his political foes cannot be reached by that time. He added that the decree would be valid on July 31. Wahid's plan to issue decree on state of emergency has been opposed by many parties including parliament and the country's military and police. It was reported that most of the 700 members of the People's Consultative Assembly, the country's highest law-making body, are already in the capital and have been instructed to gather at the Assembly compound on Friday afternoon. They will immediately convene a plenary session should the president make good on his threat of declaring a state of emergency. |
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