Wahid scoffs at rumours of crisis in Govt.

P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, MARCH. 4. The Indonesian President, Mr. Abdurrahman Wahid, said in Jakarta last night that he was not planning any Cabinet shuffle. While the timing and the venue he chose to make that statement attracted unusual attention, it did put a brake on the rumours of a fresh crisis.

Speculation about Cabinet shuffle and the rumours of a possible collapse of the President's Government had gained currency for a short while earlier last night. That prompted official denials that the Senior Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Finance and Industry, Mr. Kwik Kian Gie, wanted to resign. Mr. Kwik belongs to the Vice-President, Ms. Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle or PDI(P), and the speculation was related to allegations of his son's possible involvement in the moves to sell some national asset. The allegation itself was traced to another Minister, also a key figure in Ms. Megawati's party hierarchy.

Mr. Kwik stayed on in the Cabinet even as the President and the Vice-President held consultations, though there was no official confirmation that their conversation pertained to what was seen as a brewing crisis of confidence in the Government, a national unity coalition of disparate groups.

It was, in one sense, significant that Mr. Wahid denied any move for Cabinet shuffle after visiting Gen. Wiranto at the latter's residence in Jakarta for a private dinner last night. Gen. Wiranto was only recently suspended by Mr. Wahid from the position of Senior Coordinating Minister for Politics and Security Affairs. While the suspension was directly related to the ongoing official scrutiny of his alleged acts of omission and commission in regard to the carnage in East Timor last year, Mr. Wahid's coincidental choice of venue for fending off speculation about fresh tremors in the Cabinet had, at the least, an ironic ring about it. Mr. Wahid said he did not discuss politics and the latest military shakeup with Gen. Wiranto.

A top U.S. official, Mr. Thomas Pickering, indicated at the end of his visit to Jakarta that the process of accountability in regard to the alleged involvement of Indonesian military officials in last year's mayhem in East Timor would be a key determinant of the course of bilateral ties. It was only recently that the U.S. Secretary of State, Ms. Madeleine Albright, had placed Indonesia in a list of four emerging democracies of particular interest to Washington.

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Section  : International
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