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Wahid to Call for Snap Polls in Indonesia
JAKARTA, July 3 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Admitting that his days are numbered, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said on Tuesday he would call for snap polls in order to prove his detractors wrong on his popularity.
When asked by reporters about the snap poll, the President replied: "Why are you asking me ... It is the people who wish it, not me".
On Monday, he accused legislators of treason saying that the attempt to oust him was illegal. Abdurrahman Wahid reiterated that his ouster would lead to the break-up of the sprawling archipelago.
There is now less than a month left before his impeachment hearing at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and he appeared resigned to the fate that if the hearing goes through he would lose.
A baffled and frustrated Wahid slammed his critics saying he had nowhere else to turn to except the heavens to seek some respite.
He added that his political foes refused to recognize the dire consequences of his possible downfall.
"Frankly speaking, I am now lodging a protest with God. I am protesting because everyone says there should be no state of emergency, but these same people are also closing their doors to compromise," he said to a room packed with participants in a National Resilience Institute (Lemhannas) short course.
"They are all lousy!"
Abdurrahman warned of outrage on the part of his supporters should the special session of the People's Consultative Assembly in August impeach him.
Wahid is obviously unhappy with the turnout of the negotiations he started through a group of seven ministers who canvassed the MPR parties to drop the special session and work with the President.
On Tuesday, Wahid forcefully withdrew his offer made last week to reconcile with his rivals. He said they were playing down the threat of violence to the country if he is ousted.
He said he is not against the impeachment hearing but that it should not come to a presidential accountability, which should not happen because "it is not known in our system".
"If it happens (the accounting), there must be an act of treason...which will certainly mean the ousting of the president and the breaking up of our country into pieces.
"There is a huge constitutional deadlock that has to be resolved. There can be no other solution than a snap election (if this cannot be resolved)," he added.
The MPR session over Wahid's 20-month rule and two financial scandals opens on August 1 and will be stretched over a week period. He is expected to be present at the MPR to defend his stance but said that he would not deliver any speech and that he would not be present at the Parliament.
This would immediately terminate his presidency, as the MPR, on that day, is to accept the president's accountability speech, to reject it or to have a conditional acceptance.
If his presidency is terminated, Megawati Sukarnoputri will be appointed as the new president. She will than have the authority to instruct the police to remove Wahid from the palace, the Straits Times of Singapore wrote on Tuesday.
Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who also heads the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDIP), the country's largest political party, is the obvious successor to Wahid.
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