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Wahid Hints On Megawati's Incapacity To Govern
by Kazi Mahmood for IslamOnline
KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - During a seminar on the political crisis in the country, observers in Jakarta said on Tuesday that Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid might be forced out of his seat in the long run.
Political observer Fachry Ali said during a seminar entitled "Crisis recovery direction and strategy," that Wahid may be ousted unconstitutionally after the President observed that Megawati was not up to standard to handle the leadership of Indonesia.
Earlier, a politician revealed that Wahid had questioned the capability of Vice President Megawati Sukarnopurtri to govern the nation in case she replaced Wahid as head of the government.
Wahid is said to have expressed severe doubts on Megawati's ability in connection with the suggested separation of the functions between head of state and the head of the government.
Indonesia has a political system in which the president possesses executive powers to decide on the country's policies, thus relegating the House of Representatives and the Parliament (DPR and MPR repectively) to secondary roles.
Wahid has also noted that the suggested sharing of power between him as head of state and Megawati as head of government is against the Constitution. He has also ruled out any changes of the Constitution to accommodate Megawati.
Wahid made it clear he would not change the Constitution to end a long-running political crisis and said he would not compromise on fundamental matters in the Constitution, which does not allow any room for the vice president to share powers with the strongman.
Last week, some opposition lawmakers called on Wahid to devolve authority to Megawati as a way of avoiding impeachment by a hostile 500-member parliament.
Under the proposal, put forward by parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung, Wahid would become a largely symbolic president and assign day-to-day governing to Megawati, something the President said he is not ready to accept.
Wahid has said he will never resign and that he would stay in power until his full term ends in 2004.
Wahid has occupied the presidency for almost one-and-a-half years and both the public and parliament, minus the Nladhatul Ulama (NU), has begun to doubt the ability of his government to overcome the multi-dimensional crisis facing the nation.
The President has so far proceeded with several reshufflings of his cabinet, revoking ministers and appointed new faces at a rate that has placed the Indonesian population in an amused mood.
Members of the Indonesian public have made it clear through Internet correspondence that they find it most regrettable that Wahid does not realize his own limits, and instead insists on proceeding with further cabinet reshufflings as promised.
Since at the helm in Indonesia, Wahid has traveled to some 50 countries and spent more than $6 million during these travels.
But he has been forced to cancel visits to Australia and New Zealand, scheduled for this month, in the wake of severe criticism by his closest allies.
Observers are saying that Wahid is acting like the hero of the nation, believing that if he leaves the presidency the archipelago will split into several smaller republics.
The only faction in parliament that could bring Wahid's downfall is the Democratic Party of Indonesia for Struggle (PDI-P) of Megawati.
The PDI-P controls 35% of the seats in the Parliament and most of its members are pressing the Vice President to either resign from Wahid's government or accept a vote of no confidence against Wahid by the end of this month.
Wahid has vowed not to accept another censure motion by Parliament and said he would not step down if Parliament voted to impeach him.
Observers say he is depending on violent support from the NU to defend him if Parliament decides to vote against him.
Insiders within the PDI-P told IslamOnline they were concerned over Megawati's silence on the current crisis and on statements by Wahid that she would not be able to handle the country if she were president.
For them, any solution to the crisis in Indonesia is not in the hands of Megawati, whom they say should resign as vice president.
The PDI-P believes her resignation would trigger the resignation of all PDI-P members from parliament and say they have guarantees from other parties that their parliamentarians, too, will then resign, thus forcing fresh elections in Indonesia.
Observers believe that Wahid could not possibly win if fresh elections were held, being highly probable that his party would lose most of the 10% it garnered in 1999.
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