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Will President Wahid Be Allowed To Complete His Full Mandate To 2004? (Part 2)
By Sahar Kassaimah
16/02/2001
The political pressure on Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, the country's first democratically elected president of just 15 months, to resign is increasing day by day.
Streets demonstrations are occurring almost daily; lawmakers are only too aware of the potential danger of these protests to lead the country into violence between Wahid 's supporters and opponents.
And now Wahid, first seen as the man who could pull Indonesia out of years of misery and darkness, has fount that his popularity has shredded and his power is on the edge of an abyss.
His alleged involvement in corruption scandals is not the only reason for the public's anger and despair - Wahid has lost the trust and confidence of the majority of the people because he has failed to pull the country out of its political and economic turmoil.
Many feel that Wahid has spent too much time overseas instead of addressing his country's real problems. The divide between rich and poor has widened even more, and the separatist movement is expanding. Wahid has been criticized for discharging members of his elected cabinet and replacing them with friends.
His supporters, however, say that comparing him to his predecessors, particularly the former dictator Suharto who allegedly stole billions of dollars shows both his grace and achievements.
It remains unclear whether he will be allowed to complete his full mandate to 2004 or not. But he still refuses to step down - despite the country's unstable political situation. He repeatedly denies any wrongdoing in the two multi-million dollar scandals that he is accused of being involved in - the theft of $4.1 million from the state commodities Bulog and his acceptance of a $2 million aid donation from the Sultan of Brunei.
The nation's parliament has censured Wahid and a parliament investigation found that he has acted improperly, even lying in the two financial schemes. They are requiring him to explain his actions and to convince legislators that he is still capable of leading the country within the next three months. If he fails to do so satisfactorily, parliament can issue a second memorandum before they begin lengthy impeachment proceedings.
Some politicians pressed for a special section of the legislature to come forward to quickly remove Wahid from office. Amine Rais, the speaker of the top legislature MPR who helped Wahid come to power 15 months ago, is now heading the drive to oust him. He said that if he fails in their requirement, the assembly would then be expected to impeach Wahid.
However, Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri's party as well as the Golkar party who together control the majority of the parliament rejected the move.
Meanwhile, more than 50,000 of Wahid 's supporters protested in Indonesia's second largest city, "Surabaya," against moves to impeach him. And, despite the president's appeals to the public to remain calm and to peacefully follow the democratic process, Wahid's supporters have warned of a bloody civil war if the President is forced from office.
"There will be revenge and civil war," said Ali Maschan, the provincial head of the 30 million member Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest Muslim organization. And, according to police, hundreds of supporters carried knives and sickles in demonstrations while chanting, "We are ready to spill our blood for Wahid."
Amid this hard situation, there are predictions that the parliament may try to find any solution other than revoking the president's mandate if he fails to show an improvement within the upcoming months. It may decide to allow Wahid to remain in office but devolve his power to someone else.
However, it is still possible that the parliament may choose the difficult solution and revoke the president's mandate.
The question we would face then is who would be his successor?
Constitutionally, the obvious choice is Vice President Megawati. She is the highest elected official in the country, as of the last election. However, it is questionable as to whether she would accept the presidency under the present circumstances.
She has made it clear that she wants President Wahid to remain in office until 2004, as she believes that they can continue, together, to rule the country in the best possible way. It seems that her advisers have warned her against any step to overthrow Wahid at the time.
Time will tell how the crisis in the country with the world's largest Muslim population will end, and whether its powers-to-be will truly fight to uplift their country or merely seek to advance their own interests.
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