August 10, 2000. Copyright 2000. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

INDONESIAÕS WAHID BIDS FOR SECOND CHANCE

LONDON, August 10, Graphic News: EMBATTLED President Abdurrahman Wahid, IndonesiaÕs only democratically-elected president, has bowed to savage criticism of his stormy 10-month rule and handed daily running of government to his deputy.

The hugely popular Megawati Sukarnoputri, outmanoeuvred by Wahid in the presidential election last October, has been little more than a shadow on the political stage since assuming the mainly ceremonial vice-presidential post.

The question remains over how much authority Wahid will really allow her to have or whether his latest manoeuvre simply allows him to share some of the blame for the difficulties in resolving the countryÕs vast range of social and economic problems.

Despite heading the countryÕs largest political party -- the Nationalist Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) -- Megawati has rarely, if ever, taken the lead in dealing with any of the major issues facing the troubled country.

The 700-seat PeopleÕs Consultative Assembly (MPR), whose session runs till August 18, is now expected to go into stormy debate over exactly how the new powers of the vice-president can be cemented in law.

WahidÕs announcement on Wednesday night to the MPR drew warm applause from legislators. The largest parties, the PDI-P and the former ruling Golkar party of House speaker Akbar Tandjung, immediately welcomed the move.

When the MPR enthusiastically elected the near-blind, stroke-battered, cleric to power many believed that his wily political skills would lead Indonesia out of years of economic chaos and social unrest.

The economy of the worldÕs fourth most populous nation, spread over 17,000 islands, had collapsed during the 1997-98 East Asian crisis, with the countryÕs currency, the rupiah, losing 85 percent of its value against the dollar. When Wahid took the top job, IndonesiaÕs GDP (measure of wealth) was hovering at nine percent below its 1996 level and government corruption was almost the highest in the world.

Violence had escalated, with the army shooting demonstrators in the capital, Jakarta; clashing with separatist rebels in Aceh; and backing pro-Jakarta militias when they rampaged through East Timor following a vote for independence last August.

In January the 60-year-old Wahid asked Megawati to try to resolve the sectarian bloodshed in the eastern spice islands, or Moluccas, but her limited efforts have done nothing to stop the violence.

The fabled islands have been riven by waves of religious violence between Christians and Muslims since early 1999. In the past 18 months over 2,500 people have been killed and, with the recent arrival of the extremist Muslim Laskar Jihad, no end to the violence is in sight. Ethnic clashes in Borneo last year even included head-hunting by the local Dyak community.

After East Timor won its freedom, the calls for independence spread to petroleum-rich Aceh and copper-rich Irian Jaya (recently renamed West Papua), where a strongly anti-Indonesian population has supported separatist insurgency since 1969.

WahidÕs attempts to deal with these problems are now being frustrated by a power struggle within the countryÕs powerful armed forces. Reports that General Prabowo Subianto -- the disgraced son-in-law of former dictator President Suharto -- has returned to Indonesia after a period of self-imposed exile has revived speculation of an alliance of generals and possible coup.

After apologizing in his accountability report to the MPR for his turbulent first year in office, Wahid pledged to maintain IndonesiaÕs territorial integrity.

With his Nation Awakening Party (PKB) holding less than 10 percent of the MPR, Wahid relies for his survival on his own political guile as well as a shaky alliance of Muslims, reformists and populists.

Observers say has greatest defence is that there is no suitable alternative leader in sight. For many Indonesians and the outside world, Gus Dur, as Wahid is affectionately nicknamed, is a voice of moderation and the tolerant face of Islam -- a characteristic seen as vital in helping keep the hugely diverse archipelago of 210 million people united.
Sources: Reuters, JaneÕs Foreign Report, Associated Press