Wahid faces a stormy House session

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE, AUG. 6. The Indonesian President, Mr. Abdurrahman Wahid, faces a stormy session of the 700-member People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) from Monday. The House will take up his performance record after he took power in October 1999.

For a country facing immense problems, the MPR session is the last thing an embattled Mr. Wahid will want.

However, in the face of concerted pressure from a string of parties, the President has no option but to face the music in the session which will continue till August 18.

By first acting tough and not responding to demands from the lower House of Parliament to explain the sacking of Ministers and then apologising, Mr. Wahid may have gained some ground but that has come too late for him to escape unscathed.

The violence against Christians in Maluku, the trouble in Aceh, the problems in East Timor and an unsatisfactory economic recovery have turned the spotlight on Indonesia as never before.

Simultaneously, the problems have also focused attention on the ability of the President to deliver the goods at a testing time in the country's history.

With Indonesia far from having buried the ghosts of the past authoritarian rule, Mr. Wahid remains the best bet for a divided country.

A man with many skills, there is little doubt that the President needs few lessons in political manoeuvring.

However, Mr. Wahid needs to improve his skills in the management of Government and economy. Often, his whimsical actions have landed his in political trouble.

The unexplained sacking of key Ministers has angered some of his close allies, including the Vice-President, Ms. Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Though there have been threats from within Parliament in the past that the President could be impeached, it is likely that he will escape with a reprimand.

As per procedure, Parliament must issue a memorandum of warning to Mr. Wahid about his conduct and then he gets three months to improve his record.

In case he is still found to be lacking, one more month becomes available to the President to prove himself.

Only after this time period is over that a special session of Parliament can be convened for impeachment proceedings.

Several Indonesian analysts believe that there is no alternative to Mr. Wahid at this stage in the country's politics. While being critical of Mr. Wahid, there is a realisation that a replacement could be even more problematic.

Reports emanating from Jakarta have also spoken of the possibility of large-scale changes in the scheme of governance, with a First Minister being appointed by Mr. Wahid.

However, it is still not clear what exactly the equation between the First Minister and the Vice-President, Ms. Megawati Sukarnoputri, will be.

These reports state that the First Minister to be appointed by Mr. Wahid will be the Energy Minister, Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (Retd).

Others are of the view that instead of adding to the bureaucracy, more tasks should be delegated to Ms. Megawati.

Reuters reports:

Around 10,000 people, including Mr. Wahid, gathered in Jakarta on Sunday to pray for peace and religious harmony on the eve of the MPR session. The Parliamentary Speaker, Mr. Akbar Tandjung, also attended the non-political rally at a stadium, which follows similar mass public gatherings in recent weeks calling for an end to bloodshed in the world's fourth most populous country.

Mr Tandjung told the crowd they had nothing to fear from the MPR session. ``The MPR session will be safe and smooth,'' said Mr Tandjung, a key Wahid critic, without elaborating.

Leaders representing the country's main religions - Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism - made sermons and called on the people not to use their faith for political purposes. Mr Wahid has said he is confident he can end the violence that has killed thousands in the past two years in the multi-ethnic archipelago, especially in fighting between Muslims and Christians. But he has provided few concrete plans.

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