THE LEADER of the former party of Indonesian strongman Suharto said yesterday he was confident it had won last week?s parliamentary elections and he pledged to step up the fight against terror.

Golkar party chief Akbar Tandjung, expected to be a candidate in presidential elections in July, said improving security was key to attracting investment.

He advocated a bigger role for the military in fighting terror in the world?s most populous Muslim country.

?I am quite confident the Golkar party will win the legislative election which will lead to a new horizon of national leadership,? Tandjung, the speaker of the lower house of parliament, said in a speech.

He said votes still had to be counted from Golkar strongholds outside the main island of Java and his party expected to win 140-150 seats in the 550-seat parliament.

With vote counting from the April 5 elections stretching into a 10th day, Golkar, Suharto?s political vehicle during his 32 years of iron rule, held a narrow lead over President Megawati Sukarnoputri?s Indonesia Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P).

Of some 86 million votes counted, or nearly 60 per cent of Indonesia?s 147 million eligible voters, Golkar had 20.84 per cent, while PDI-P had 19.83.

Most opinion polls before the elections showed Golkar retaking its position as the biggest party in parliament. But with no party achieving anywhere near a majority, the horse trading to form coalitions has already begun ahead of the country?s first ever direct presidential vote.

Among 22 other parties that contested the legislative polls, only that of former president Abdurrah-man Wahid, with about 12 per cent, has so far achieved double digit figures.

Tandjung said security problems were stunting investment and causing Indonesia?s economic growth to lag behind rates in its Asian neighbours. Bombings blamed on Muslim militants have killed hundreds of people in Indonesia in recent years. Two blasts at nightclubs on the tourist island of Bali in October 2002 killed 202 people, many of them foreign tourists. ?Terrorism is obviously the main problem,? he said.

?We, of course, would like to make the military more active,? he said. Efforts to formulate legislation in parliament last year to increase the role of the military in domestic security raised concern over civil rights.

Tandjung declined to outline specific economic policies, but analysts say a parliament dominated by Golkar, which is part of the coalition now in office, would be unlikely to differ much in policy terms from the current administration.

Asked what he would do about widespread corruption and reforming the judiciary, Tandjung said courts would be allowed to continue to process corruption charges against Suharto, who stepped down amid widespread protests in 1998.

Last February, Indonesia?s supreme court quashed a graft conviction against Tandjung involving the alleged misuse of $4 million in state funds to feed the poor. Tandjung had denied any wrongdoing.

Golkar will select its presidential candidate at a party convention next week in Jakarta. Tandjung is seen by many as the favourite.

Dan Eaton