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Indonesia's Megawati Urged To Be Wary Of Islamic Parties
by Kazi Mahmood
KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 (IslamOnline) - Members of the Democratic Party of Indonesia (PDI-P) and pro-Megawati Sukarnoputri supporters warned the Vice President Wednesday that she should treat mounting support from Islamic parties with suspicion.
The PDI-P said Muslim parties under the Axis group, as well as independent political movements in Jakarta, might be courting her favor in return for short-term gains. They also said the aim of the Muslim based organizations was to oust embattled President Abdurrahman Wahid.
Muslim based political parties over the last weekend, gave Sukarnoputri, the daughter of the first Indonesian president, Sukarno, their total support.
They unanimously voted that the current president should be ousted and that his vice president should be allowed to continue the current presidential mandate until the year 2004.
Several groups in Jakarta have openly criticized Wahid for his miscalculations towards events in Kalimantan, where violence in the region has taken the lives of more than 500 Muslim Madurese settlers at the hands of local Dayaks.
They say that while heads were rolling in Sampit, Wahid was lecturing Nigerian students in Arabia over the Sharia'h, and the provision to chop one's hand off if found guilty of robbery.
Many Muslim-based party leaders believe that Wahid is out of touch with reality, citing numerous statements made by him in which he has tried to downplay the severity of the chaos in the troubled areas of Malukus, Irian Jaya, Aceh and now, Kalimantan.
Stating that Wahid has been racked with political indecision, Muslim leaders say he has given the impression that the country lacks political leadership, and that it was improbable for such a huge nation like Indonesia not to be able to fight unrest and enforce shoot-to-kill orders against crime perpetrators in the restive region.
Leading figures of the National Mandate Party (PAN), the United Development Party (PPP), the Justice Party (PK), the Crescent Star Party (PBB), the Golkar Party and the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) met last Friday to show their support for Megawati as the immediate successor to Wahid.
Aiming to clearly remove Wahid as president, the public announcement of the meeting between the political elite in Jakarta, was designed to give Wahid the signal that he should resign before being forced out of the presidency, IslamOnline was told.
The Muslim leadership decided that it was better for Megawati to take over and complete the presidential mandate instead of forcing the parliament to vote another president into office, saving Indonesia from massive political turmoil and appeasing Megawati supporters, an observer who did not want to be named told IslamOnline in a phone conversation.
However, an ex-member of Amien Rais's PAN warned Megawati she might be a pawn in a Muslim political party game which desires a pro-Islamic presidential candidate to take over in the long run.
Bara Hasibuan said he feared a Muslim party coalition would not be sincere. "There is a possibility that Megawati is only being exploited for the sake of immediate interests, and afterwards will be left out once she is no longer useful to them," he said.
Hasibuan, who recently resigned from the PAN, where he was a member of the executive board, pointed out that the Islamic-based parties that took part in Friday's meeting and claimed support for Megawati were the same ones that led the battle against her during the 1999 presidential election.
The parties claimed back then that it was unacceptable for a woman to become president.
Hasibuan, and legislators from Wahid's National Awakening Party (PKB), pointed out that the parties have still not retracted their statements rejecting the possibility of a woman president.
He suggested that the show of support for Megawati was temporary and politically motivated, with the primary aim of toppling the President.
Another political observer said that it was certain that if Megawati replaces Wahid, she might have to accommodate the interests of other political elements during her tenure.
Muslims in Indonesia have urged her to support the move to turn Indonesia into a fully Islamic nation with the respect of Islamic laws where necessary. They have depicted Megawati as anti-Islamic and believe she will not allow Islam to prosper if she is president.
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