|
Wahid's Balancing Act
by Kazi Mahmood for IslamOnline
KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Indonesia's embattled President, Abdurrahman Wahid, stated on Sunday that he was prepared to hand over more powers to his deputy in an attempt to maintain his grip on the presidency.
Observers in Jakarta said they felt Wahid was prepared to bring the battle for his political survival to higher ground, which would include forcing Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri to decide on major issues affecting the nation.
Wahid believes that by giving more leeway to Megawati he would not be dislodged as president and that the parliament and Senate MPR and DPR would be tamed. He also believes that students rallying against him would be calmed since Megawati would be handling local matters.
Megawati and Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P) regional level leaders revealed Sunday, however, that the Vice President was unfazed concerning the balancing act proposed by Wahid.
They also said that Wahid unceremoniously rejected offers by some parties in parliament for a compromise between the two leaders that would be satisfactory to both sides.
The Golkar party and the Party for Development (PPP) said they would be satisfied with Wahid if he remained as a powerless president, transferring all his powers to his vice president.
Observers said they feared the recent calm in Indonesian politics could only be the interval to a major storm to hit the streets and parliament in the coming days.
Students and parliamentarians say Wahid's call for more power to Megawati was not genuine but only a way for him to try avoiding a second censure vote currently being prepared by Parliament.
Wahid, as president, they say, does not believe in power sharing, feeling that Megawati is there just to fit the political bill and replace him when he is indisposed or absent from the country.
In the past, Wahid has said his vice president would be given the task of running some of the day-to-day business of the presidency, but he ended up revoking all past Megawati decisions, sources said.
That has caused friction between himself and Megawati, who decided not to interfere in the nomination of a new central bank chairman, a decision indicating her open disagreement with the ailing president.
Her absence from the nomination ceremony of a new minister a few weeks ago, and the fact that her husband, Mr. Taufik, has been in negotiations with opposition leaders, has given Wahid indications that he may soon face isolation.
Wahid desired to play everything based on the constitution, going so far as to say that sharing power or eventual responsibilities given to Megawati would stem from changes made to the constitution, pointing out to the legislature that it is their duty, and not his, to bring those changes to the constitution.
To do that, the president will have to discuss possible changes in the Indonesian constitution with the MPR.
The MPR, or People's Consultative Assembly, is the country's highest legislative body. It's speaker, Akbar Tandjung of the Golkar party, had said the MPR would have to convene a special session to amend several constitutional provisions in order to allow the plan to initiate.
The changes the legislative body wants to bring to the constitution would alter the executive powers of the president. If these changes were brought, the vice president would then be given the authority to nominate Cabinet members, as well as senior military officers.
In the process, Wahid would thus remain as a symbolic head of state. However, several anti-Megawati supporters asked whether the vice president was ready for such tough tasks.
Megawati herself seemed ready to face elections rather than to take over from Wahid, given the backdrop of demonstrations and possible flare-ups in violence by pro-Wahid supporters who say Megawati lacks the fortitude to challenge Wahid and force him to resign on his own.
Wahid has come under mounting pressure to resign since rejecting on Wednesday a House censure over two graft scandals in which he could face possible impeachment within months.
In 1948, the late president Sukarno, Megawati's father, allowed his deputy to hold administrative power while he remained the symbolic head of state. Wahid, however, does not seem willing to be a president in name only, devoid of decisional powers.
In the meantime, the squabble continues among the political elite in Jakarta, with Amien Rais sincerely regretting he forced Wahid into power by opposing Megawati in 1999.
|
