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Wahid Pressured To Make Compromise
by Kazi Mahmood
JAKARTA, May 3 (IslamOnline) - Calling President Abdurrahman Wahid of Indonesia adamant and arrogant, several observers in Jakarta told IslamOnline on Thursday that Wahid must compromise or else his days as leader of the country are over.
They said his proposal of a cabinet reshuffle, offered to Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri by Wahid and his advisers, was purely a naive approach to a very serious problem.
However, most observers failed to explain to IslamOnline what would be the proper compromise that Wahid would have to make to satisfy the legislators and Megawati.
A member of the Indonesian Democratic Party - Struggle (PDI-P) said cabinet reshuffling would not be the best way to resolve the current political crisis.
What is bothered House of Representatives (DPR) legislators most was Wahid's yawning response to a second censure memorandum issued Monday.
"Indonesia is tired of Wahid, only his supporters are blinded by their near heretic love and support for him," one observer said.
He preferred to remain unnamed, saying "I would not want to be the target of suicide gangs. I regularly travel within the country."
Another PDI-P member said the best solution for the country would be an improved performance by the government and a more "controlled [Wahid] mouthpiece".
Another Muslim intellectual, Nurcholish Madjid, said Wahid should not have resorted to rhetoric in responding to the DPR's second memorandum. Most observers approached by IslamOnline said they agreed with Madjid.
They said Wahid's stance revolted the legislators and made it an almost certain fact that he will be ousted within the next two months. "Wahid is over," said one of them, who again wanted to remain anonymous due to the death menace hanging on the heads of several leaders.
"Gus Dur's [Wahid's nickname] mistake is that he had panicked right from the start. As a result, excesses have been popping up," Madjid observed, but stressed the memorandum is not a final judgment.
"Gus Dur still has the opportunity to save the day, provided he responds to the substance of the problem, rather than resorting to rhetoric to evade the real issue," he said.
He said he expects Gus Dur to carry out the necessary improvements within the month, as stipulated in the second memorandum.
"Within a day or two, he can come up with a verbal response which goes right to the heart of the matter. This should then be followed by concrete steps [to improve his government's performance] as desired by the House," the scholar added.
The House on Monday voted to issue a second censure as a follow-up to the first censure issued on February 1st over financial scandals worth $6 million, allegedly involving the president.
The second censure is the last process in the House before it can take further action against the president by proposing a Special Session of the MPR (People's Consultative Assembly), as a constitutional forum to impeach the president.
After parliament issued the second censure, seven senior cabinet ministers recommended that Wahid and Megawati share power, and that the cabinet be revamped in order to end political conflicts.
On the basis of a decision of the MPR issued last year, Wahid signed a decree of power sharing between himself and Megawati. The arrangement was deemed useless as Wahid constantly rebuffed decisions made by his vice president.
Wahid Wednesday ignored the House censure as he spoke in a television address broadcast nationwide. In the five-minute speech, the president reminded parliament that there were 160 draft laws submitted by the government that needed to be deliberated and passed by the lawmakers.
However, this time, Wahid did not make his usual attack on lawmakers seeking his resignation.
"The work of MPR," he said, "is to ensure that the government runs well, free from corruption so that law enforcement could be upheld."
Wahid's speech, however, seemed to have made more enemies than friends. On Thursday, Supreme Advisory Council (DPA) chairman Achmad Tirtosudiro said the DPA would no longer give advice to Wahid concerning the censure because much of the advice it gave earlier went unheeded.
Achmad was quoted by a private television station, SCTV, as saying that "if the President had listened to our advice from the very beginning, none of this chaotic condition would have happened."
Achmad said the DPA's advice to Wahid concerning the first memorandum on February 1st had "gone unnoticed".
"We told him [Wahid] to act fast to improve his performance in the previous three months of first memorandum ... but he just didn't act on it," Achmad said.
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