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Can Wahid Save His Presidency?
By Kazi Mahmood
18/06/2001
Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid will probably be impeached by the end of June, thus clearing the political sky in Indonesia. What has led this country, 95% of which is populated by Muslims, to the brink of chaos? A look at the reasons behind Wahid's refusal to be ousted from his presidential seat would probably help one to understand the situation in Jakarta.
The cunning but embattled politician, who by his actions showed that he was of a class thought to be extinct (after Hitler, and Suharto and his consorts), is playing yet another ruse in an attempt to save his presidency.
Wahid is currently lobbying through the corridors of power and with negotiators, pressing for a scrapping of a special session of the House of Representatives (MPR) due to meet on July 1st.
However, during the first two weeks of June, Wahid grew increasingly aggressive, inviting the army to besiege the presidential palace located at Medan Merdeka, and shoot him if necessary. "I will not resign and I will not leave the palace," he said flatly.
Staking a claim that he is "divine," by virtue of the presidential office, Wahid asserted the illegality of an impeachment trial, and threatened that several provinces would secede in the event of his ouster.
With Wahid's present attitude, it is clear that Indonesia will soon undergo an intense period of instability, with the possibility of armed conflict against a backdrop of rioting, assassination attempts and car burnings by Wahid supporters.
Is NU the giant behind Wahid?
The Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) represents traditionalist orthodox Sunni Islam in Indonesia. It is doctrinal and refuses improper innovation,
bid'ah. It is thus fundamentally opposed to its main rival, the reformist Muhammadiyah movement.
However, Wahid became popular within the NU with the same type of innovations the Muhammadiyah advocates, which he deems necessary for Muslims. The son of one of the founders of the NU, Wahid introduced, "Good Mornings" and "Good Evenings" into the
salat (prayer), instead of the traditional "Asalamualaikum wa
Rahmatullah."
A Javanese ulama group, in a bid to strengthen traditional Islam, established the NU, meaning the "awakening of the
ulama," in 1926. They wanted to unify Indonesian Muslims against threats posed by both secular appeals to nationalism and communism, and the rival religious appeals of the reformist Muhammadiyah, and the heretical Ahmadiyah.
Under Wahid, the NU accepted the Indonesian government's policy of basing the state on the Pancasila, or five principles, the first of which was belief in one supreme God. Other parts of the Pancasila, however, lead the state away from one that is Islamic, causing it to renounce earlier advocacies for an Islamic state.
Yet for many of his followers, especially the rural poor, Wahid is a savior from injustice and poverty after decades of oppression under Suharto, who ruled Indonesia for three decades until his ousting in 1998.
Many believe the former strongman's cronies are now behind moves to oust Wahid, and point to an alliance between Suharto's Golkar and Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle.
The low turnout of NU members at a May special prayer rally in Jakarta was proof that Wahid does not command authority in the NU, and that he possesses lesser support than claimed.
His attempts at putting the Muhammadiyah movement and the NU into a head-on clash have also failed, due to the lack of support from the
ulama.
Most of Wahid's support comes from fishing and paddy field villages in East Java. They have an emotional attachment to Wahid, whose father and grandfather were true members of the
ulama community, and contributed largely to the development of fundamental Islam within rural areas of the country.
Most Wahid supporters say they do not know much about politics, and that they love the
ulama. To a certain degree, Wahid's supporters have brought him some respite, though they have failed to fan-off the real challenges he currently faces.
The majority of the 212 million-strong Indonesian nation, according to a latest survey, is not pro-Wahid. Most of them are waiting for his expulsion. The only ones praying for Wahid and who are ready to lay down their lives for him are the "suicide" gangs, or
bansers, and other die-hard NU supporters.
The NU has a large membership estimated at 40 million, making the NU the largest Islam-based organization in the country. This, nevertheless, represents less than 20% of the population.
But not all NU members are pro-Wahid. Many NU supporters, or members carrying official NU badges or membership cards, told IslamOnline, "the faster Wahid is removed, the better that will be for Indonesia."
This division of parties between Islamic and non-Islamic doctrines has also led to a battle for supremacy between the Muhammadiyah group, the second largest Muslim organization (claiming 20 million members in Indonesia), and the NU.
One of the reasons Wahid is struggling to remain in power concerns the debate over the future role of Islam in Indonesia. Being a member of the Islamic ulama, Wahid has, however, conspicuously proved himself to be an anti-Islamic politician.
Opposition to Islamization
While the NU is a conservative religious organization, Wahid has consistently maintained that faith is a personal matter and that Islam should not be made the official religion of Indonesia.
In the wake of Suharto's downfall, several Muslim politicians from Islam-based parties suggested that Islam be given an institutionalized role in the country.
Wahid believes that such a move could only spell the doom for Indonesia as a republican entity. He firmly believes in the Pancasila, the official constitution of Indonesia, and firmly opposes any attempts to overthrow the constitutional exegetes. Wahid explains that Islam, as the main state doctrine, would fuel ethnic separation and cause great inter-religious tension.
What he fails to see is that the Pancasila has not done any better in keeping the country together and preventing ethnic riots and the separatism he fears. With Indonesia falling like an egg, breaking into several fragments, Wahid's role was to patch the shells together and bring about necessary reforms.
But again, he failed in his mission, sending the country into deeper crises never thought possible in the minds of anti-Suharto reformers.
Wahid has stated that if Islam-based parties in Indonesia desire that Islam be a moral or educational force in politics, that it would be fine. He, however, insists that if they want to play around with the laws of the country, such as the Pancasila, then, "We must resist."
Wahid's pro-Israeli stance, coupled with his arguments that Islam and the Holy Qur'an do not favor the creation of an Islamic state, or that of an Islam-based government, has irritated opponents.
In addition, allegations that he committed adultery with a housewife, and the alleged advice given to his lover, not to worry about "Divine" punishment, has brought him criticism from Islamic circles.
Wahid also failed to understand that he came to power on an alliance called the Axis Force, a loose alliance of Islam-based parties in the Parliament, headed by Amien Rais, leader of the National Mandate Party (PAN).
Rais, for his part, is also not without blame for the current situation in the country, and he has gentlemanly accepted the fact that he might have been wrong in choosing Wahid as president in 1999. Without Rais's support, Wahid would never have defeated Megawati Sukarnoputri in the presidential showdown in parliament.
The Axis Force represent some 30% of the Parliament, and combined with the votes of the Golkar Party of Akbar Tandjung, with that of Wahid's party, the National Awakening Party (PKB), Megawati was easily defeated.
Today, it is this same force, joined by Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P), which is voting for Wahid's ouster from power and at the same time supporting Megawati for president, pledging full support to the leader of the PDI-P and daughter of first Indonesian President, Ahmad Sukarno.
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