their lives to protect civilians. In Surakarta (Solo), Armed Forces representative Colonel Sriyanto denied allegations of neglect, claiming that ground forces were limited and few due to units being transferred to Jakarta with only a few soldiers left to assist the police in controlling protesters at the Muhammadiyah University. For the most part, the military portrayed the violence "in terms of mobs gone mad, acting in an uncontrollable and spontaneous manner, outnumbering security forces". Resignation of Suharto Following the riots, on 18 May, Suharto loyalists and speaker of the People's Representative Council Harmoko called for Suharto to step down from the presidency within five days, at a press conference. This was a great surprise to many, including to Suharto himself, and other loyalists of Suharto. Suharto himself saw Harmoko's request as a betrayal and loyalists referred to Harmoko as "Brutus", a reference to the Roman Senator Marcus Junius Brutus, who killed his great-uncle Julius Caesar. Meanwhile, Amien Rais, leader of the Islamic organisation Muhammadiyah, declared he would organize a demonstration of a million supporters to call for Suharto's resignation. This was planned for 20 May, celebrated as Indonesia's National Awakening. On the evening of 18 May, influential Muslim intellectual Nurcholish Madjid, who had held various meetings with generals and civilians, met with Suharto. The meeting ended with Suharto telling Nurcholish of his intention to resign "as soon as possible" following a meeting with Muslim leaders. This two-hour meeting took place on the morning of 19 May. Afterwards, Suharto announced to the nation that he would reshuffle the cabinet and set up a reform committee to plan new elections. Following a warning from a Prabowo ally of possible bloodshed, Amien Rais called off the demonstration. On 20 May, there was a "massive show of force" from the military, with soldiers and armored vehicles on the streets of Jakarta. Prabowo wanted a robust response to the demonstrators, but Wiranto realized that the Suharto era was coming to an end and was more receptive to the students' demands. According to sources of The Jakarta Post, Wiranto visited Suharto at home and asked the president to resign. On the same day, some of Suharto's allies refused to serve in a new cabinet. Facing a threat of impeachment from Harmoko, and having received a letter from 14 cabinet members rejecting the formation of a new cabinet, Suharto decided to resign. At 9 a.m. on 21