Erratic leadership<\/p>\n
President Abdurrahman \"Gus Dur\" Wahid issued a presidential
\ndecree on Thursday appointing Marzuki Darusman the new Cabinet
\nsecretary. Marzuki is a prominent Golkar Party politician who was
\nattorney general until President Abdurrahman Wahid ordered him
\nreplaced by Baharuddin Lopa, who died of heart failure in Saudi
\nArabia this week.<\/p>\n
Marzuki is filling the position vacated by Marsilam
\nSimanjuntak, who was made the justice minister on June 1.<\/p>\n
That, by the way, was the date when Marzuki saw himself
\ndismissed as attorney general to make way for Baharuddin Lopa,
\nwho, as might be recalled, was until then minister of justice.
\nThe justice ministry portfolio which Lopa vacated was filled by
\nMarsilam Simanjuntak, who was then Cabinet secretary.<\/p>\n
A bit confusing? Musical chairs -- the game in which children
\nrun around two rows of chairs while music is played and each
\nchild tries to sit on one as soon as the music stops -- usually
\nis. At least the game keeps players and onlookers in a mild state
\nof suspense since there is always one chair less than the number
\nof players, so one child has to drop out of the game every time.
\nThe one who remains at the end is the winner.<\/p>\n
Politics, of course, is not child's play. But the principle of
\nkeeping people in a state of uncertainty so that one's next step
\nwill come as a surprise to the other party is often employed by
\npoliticians as a means to attain certain ends. Could it be that
\nGus Dur is playing musical chairs of sorts for a purpose?<\/p>\n
These days it appears that the President enjoys confounding
\npeople with moves that to the general public may seem to make
\nlittle sense. Inconsistent and feeble-bodied Abdurrahman may be;
\nfeeble-minded he certainly is not, although lately many of his
\nactions have cast some serious doubt, both on his erstwhile
\nreputation as a democratic reformer and as a capable political
\ntactician.<\/p>\n
But what political gain could there be for the embattled
\nPresident, for example, by putting Marzuki in Marsilam's former
\npost as Cabinet secretary? It is hardly likely that the move is
\nto please the Golkar Party, since the post holds little power
\nalthough it is one close to the center of power.<\/p>\n
Marzuki, the attorney general before Lopa, admitted in a
\nrecent interview with the Far Eastern Economic Review that he
\ncould see no method to the President's actions. \"He was simply
\nreacting to events. That's not reform. Reform is taking
\ninitiatives.\"<\/p>\n
Ostensibly, there is much truth in Marzuki's remark that the
\nPresident has been alienating allies for quite some time -- and
\nfor unfathomable reasons -- abandoning reform for a political
\nagenda and seemingly incapable of defining a coherent vision of
\nIndonesia's future. Instead, a picture is emerging with
\nincreasing clarity of Abdurrahman Wahid as President as a most
\nerratic head of state and head of government.<\/p>\n
What all this adds up to is that there seems to be little hope
\nof Indonesia getting out of its current multidimensional crisis
\nunder Abdurrahman's leadership. Either one can be considerate and
\nthe nation must try to weather its present crisis until 2004,
\nwhen a new general election may offer another chance for an
\neffective solution, or a more effective leadership must be put in
\nplace.<\/p>\n
Let this also be a warning, however, to our legislators to put
\nreason above emotion and the national interest above that of
\ntheir own respective parties in taking their decisions in the
\nupcoming special session of the People's Consultative Assembly in
\nAugust. Let them not forget that it was their own parochial
\npoliticking that put Abdurrahman Wahid in the seat of the
\npresidency in the first place.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/erratic-leadership-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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