President Suharto's grip on power appeared to weaken last night as leaders inside and outside his ruling Golkar party questioned his leadership.
In an unprecedented move, a key liberal faction of Golkar, controlled to a man by Mr Suharto for 32 years, claimed it was ready to push him from power.
'If he won't step down peacefully, then we must force him to leave,' said a leader within the Kosgoro faction that has been quietly growing in influence in recent weeks.
A new coalition was also sealed linking Muslim moderate Amien Rais and Megawati Sukarnoputri, two powerful opposition figures, and student and religious leaders.
They demanded Mr Suharto's immediate resignation.
The Indonesia Working Forum announced a charter demanding sweeping reform five days ahead of schedule, warning that the bloodshed within the capital left them no other choice.
'We acknowledge that even though we had very fast economic growth it doesn't help the Indonesian people because there has been abuse of power in the past 30 years,' student leader Emmy Hafild said last night. 'In the political arena, there is no real willingness to reform the system.' Students were actively seeking to whip up popular dissent on the streets of Jakarta yesterday while working to bring out the masses for a vast demonstration next Wednesday.