taking of measures and establishment of a body as necessary to organize a general election within one year. The saving of the total reform movement from obstructions by elements of the New Order, by suspending the Golkar Party pending a decision by the Supreme Court. Therefore, we order all ranks of the TNI and National Police to safeguard measures to secure the Unitary Republic of Indonesia and call upon all Indonesian people to remain calm and continue their normal social and economic activities. May almighty God bless the nation and people of Indonesia. Jakarta, 22 July 2001 President of the Republic of Indonesia/Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces KH Abdurrahman Wahid Response The decree caused uproar among MPR and DPR members, who voiced their immediate opposition to it. The MPR, which had previously refrained from bringing forward the MPR special session scheduled for August 2001, decided to hold it immediately due to the urgent need to respond to Wahid's decree. The MPR then voted by 599 to 2 votes to reject the decree. The TNI and Polri showed their reluctance to support Wahid despite the decree explicitly ordered their support to enforce the decree. Army Chief of Staff Endriartono Sutarto declared that the military would not intervene to block the legislature or act against the opposition. The TNI instead declared its support for the MPR, with its faction in the assembly voting for the special session to take place on 23 July, and later voted to reject the decree. On the same day, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Bagir Manan issued a judicial opinion declaring the decree was invalid and had no legal force. Bagir argued that the MPR was supreme over the president and that the president could not overrule the legislature by disbanding it unilaterally. He also argued that the president had no power to disband a political party, as that power was vested solely with the Supreme Court. The judicial opinion was read to MPR members prior to the special session to impeach Wahid. It was criticised as it had been authorised only by a single Supreme Justice, while the proper procedure required the opinion to be authorised by all Supreme Justices. The MPR officially revoked Wahid's presidential mandate for violating MPR Resolution No. III/MPR/2000 on the order of seniority of law-making bodies after replacing Chief Police Surojo Bimantoro with Chairuddin Ismail without prior consent from