July 21, 2001, 11:00am EDT INDONESIAN LAWMAKERS BEGIN WAHID IMPEACHMENT Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has been formally summoned to appear before the country's top legislative body to account for his 20 months in office.

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Leaders in the 700-member People's Consultative Assembly began their first day of a special impeachment hearing today. Lawmakers say the session will result in Wahid's removal from office. "[Wahid] is through unless there is a miracle from the sky," Amien Rais, the assembly's chairman, told reporters. Rais and his colleagues voted 592-5 to summon Wahid before the assembly to address the accusations against him, including constitutional violations, corruption, and incompetence. Assembly members not participating in the vote either abstained or refused to attend in protest. Wahid has maintained the impeachment session and other actions against him are illegal, and said today he would refuse to appear before the body or resign his office. "I will not attend this illegal meeting," Wahid said at a nationally-televised news conference at the state palace. "This is an act of treason." Wahid did not provide further details on earlier threats he would declare a state of emergency July 31 if the political climate did not improve. Such a decision would allow him to dissolve the assembly and call for a new election. "I have many options. I won't tell what I will do. But I will do something," he said. Wahid warned his followers not to resort to violence, but said angry demonstrations could erupt regardless. "If they [proceed with impeachment], don't blame me if the crowd takes care of everything by themselves," Wahid said. The country is under full police alert, and officials say it will remain so for the next week. So far, there has been no reported violence in the capital or elsewhere attributed to the political confrontation. If Wahid is removed from office, Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri, a popular politician and daughter of Indonesia's founding president, will succeed him.