2 - 8 August 2001
Issue No.545
|
Al-Ahram Weekly Online 2 - 8 August 2001 Issue No.545 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Poisoned chalice
Political upheavals in Jakarta show that a president is only as good as his credit with a fickle legislature. Nyier Abdou digests a week of high drama
The final days of deposed Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid's tenure in office almost dissolved into farce last week, when the beleaguered leader traded in a dignified exit for a desperate attempt to cling to a thankless post. In retrospect, it's difficult to see why, as the position has done him little good.
When Wahid managed to orchestrate an improbable coalition following the 1999 election that had favoured popular opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri, Wahid was at the top of his game.
The former leader of the massive Muslim organisation the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the Al-Azhar- educated Muslim cleric was widely respected as a relatively strong political voice in a hitherto repressive political climate. Though he didn't enjoy the sweeping popular support of Megawati -- daughter of Indonesia's revolutionary leader and first president, Sukarno -- he had the support of the 40 million-strong NU, who revere him as a spiritual leader. He took the reins of the world's fourth most-populous country almost reluctantly, as though it were his duty to steer the country on the right track.
A year into his presidency, the lustre on Wahid's impeccable resumé was long gone. By 23 July, 21 tumultuous months into his presidency, he was a pale shadow of his former formidable self. As ministers prepared to convene a meeting of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to vote on his inevitable impeachment, Wahid did what any caged animal will do: he turned ugly. A last stab at authority -- a declaration of martial law and an instruction to the military to shut down parliament -- went mercifully unheeded and the vote proceeded as planned. The nation was thankfully spared a new dictator, but the last shred of Wahid's credibility was scrapped.
As Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri was sworn in last Monday as the country's fourth president in little more than three years, Wahid was busy playing sore loser back at the presidential palace. He dismissed the constitutional ouster as illegal and refused to recognise Megawati's ascension to the top post, jettisoning their almost life-long friendship. His family was quietly packing up in the back rooms when the shock started settling in, but Wahid would not actually leave the palace until last Thursday, a full three days after he was removed. Though he entered office a frail giant; he left a powerless child.
He still, however, retains his title of the country's only democratically elected leader. Fearing the long- threatened riots of Wahid's legion of supporters, Megawati, in her first remarks as president, called on all parties to "accept this democratic process," as it was "the voice of the people, which we must uphold." The impeachment process may have followed the guidelines of the country's elaborate constitutional rules, but Megawati was stretching it when she implied that her rise to power was an answer to vociferous demands by that nebulous wild card in backroom power plays: the people. The people were very much left out of the whole thing. Wahid's ouster was the voice of 591 variable members of parliament.
Megawati might have gotten her situation confused with that of the neighbouring Philippines' new leader, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Vice-President Arroyo, the daughter of former Philippine President Diosdado Macapagal, was sworn in as president in January after days of widespread popular demonstrations toppled corrupt President Joseph Estrada. But no "EDSA two" -- the affectionate term used by Filipinos to describe the popular revolt hailed as a repeat performance of the 1986 mass demonstrations near the EDSA highway that ousted former dictator Marcos -- was Wahid's removal. Like Arroyo, Megawati has a noble pedigree. Like Arroyo, she also inherits a broken system from her predecessor. But unlike Arroyo, Megawati must answer to her fragile and volatile parliamentary coalition.
These kingmakers, who built Wahid in a gust of anti-Megawati fervour after the 1999 election, are the very same players who have orchestrated Megawati's installation as president. Newly elected Vice-President Hamzah Haz, head of the Muslim-oriented United Development Party, was one of the key powers who moved to block a Megawati presidency on the basis that a woman could never rule the world's largest Muslim nation. Amien Rais, speaker of the MPR and the former leader of second-most powerful Muslim organisation, the orthodox Muhammadiyah, was a strong supporter of Wahid, but their alliance quickly soured and Rais turned his sights on Megawati. The former ruling Golkar Party of ex-dictator Suharto, while now allied with Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), bore down hard on Megawati in 1996 to resign as the leader of one of the only two opposition parties permitted under the Suharto regime, eventually crushing her party. With friends like these, Megawati needs no enemies.
With the anti-climactic departure of a crumpled Wahid on Thursday for the US to undergo medical treatment, one is tempted to forget the promise Wahid once showed. He was given an almost impossible mandate: to clean up the entrenched system of corruption left by Suharto, to clear the country's ballooning cycle of debt incurred after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and to rein in restive provinces throughout the archipelago aching for independence. Though he seemed more interested in antagonising his closest advisers than redressing a floundering economy, Wahid did do one thing that merits respect: he shrank the power of the once omnipotent military, at last giving Indonesians the chance to feel they no longer lived in a police state. The Indonesian press -- while instrumental in fuelling the debate on Wahid's incompetence and corruption -- is also now among the most free presses in the developing world.
The impeachment proceedings, kick-started with parliament's 1 February censure of Wahid on corruption charges, paralysed the governance of the country for more than six months. Demonstrations and counter-demonstrations kept the capital and provinces tense and unstable. A $400 million loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been frozen since last September over the political uncertainty that has hung over Jakarta since the first student demonstrations against Wahid broke out along with the supposed financial scandals. In the end, the original graft charges were dropped by the attorney-general, who found no link to Wahid. By then, however, the movement to oust Wahid had become a growing vote of no confidence that was self-perpetuating. Nothing was getting done, but then again, nothing could be done.
As he headed out to pasture, Wahid's own resentful note of foreboding may be worth considering. While a great deal of pain could have been spared Indonesia had the stubborn leader cowed before his parliament a year ago, the traditionally silent and decision-wary Megawati may be too easy to direct. Calling on the spectre of a powerful military, Wahid projected that his successor may have even less time in office than he did. With so much to prove to so exasperated a population, Megawati should heed Wahid's words. This job might be something of a booby prize.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page