Gus Dur's leadership and Indonesia's survival<\/p>\n
By Jusuf Wanandi<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Many have asked whether President Abdurrahman
\nWahid can survive the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)
\nsession next month, such is the amount of criticism that has been
\ndirected against him over the last two months.<\/p>\n
Theoretically and constitutionally the MPR can act against the
\nPresident, including impeaching him, if he has acted against the
\nconstitution and\/or has seriously violated the law. The
\nPresident, or Gus Dur, has done nothing of the sort.<\/p>\n
Politically, replacing a president before his five-year term
\nis over, or every year like an Italian prime minister, creates a
\nvery bad political precedent, and opens a Pandora's box that
\ncould destabilize Indonesian politics for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, it is not such an easy political maneuver to
\nreplace Abdurrahman -- all the other candidates that come to mind
\nat this stage are even weaker than him. It would not be easy to
\nelect any one of them in the MPR session in August.<\/p>\n
In spite of all this, it does not mean that the President will
\nnot have a real problem in the future if he is not willing to
\nchange in a few basic ways.<\/p>\n
First, his style as president has to be more structured. He
\ncannot behave in the erratic and capricious way he did when he
\nwas an NGO leader. It has been questioned whether he can change.
\nAnybody facing a survival problem is able to change; and Gus Dur
\nis facing a survival problem. More importantly, the nation as a
\nwhole is facing a survival problem. His staff and assistants
\nshould support him in these vital but difficult tasks.<\/p>\n
Gus Dur should not talk as freely as he used to do when he
\nchaired Nahdlatul Ulama. More than ever, he should demonstrate a
\ndeep sense of crisis, because the problems facing the country are
\nhuge and complicated. And more importantly he should not allow
\neven the faintest smell of corruption, collusion and nepotism
\naround him.<\/p>\n
He should form a new economic team that he trusts and that can
\nwork together, and give it a full mandate to implement reforms
\nand undertake efforts to rehabilitate the economy.<\/p>\n
Other political leaders should also show more responsibility.
\nInstead of criticizing Gus Dur, they should be aware how
\ndifficult the problems are and how deep the crisis is. They
\nshould also assist and support Gus Dur, because the nation's
\nsurvival is at stake. They have as much responsibility as Gus Dur
\nin overcoming the crisis. If they want a united and democratic
\nIndonesia to come out of this crisis they better play their part
\nas well.<\/p>\n
A special remark here is warranted about the leadership of the
\narmed forces and the police. If they ever want to restore their
\nnames, and become the vanguard of the nation as their
\npredecessors were in the 1945 national revolution, they better
\nget their act together now, and support Gus Dur by maintaining
\nlaw and order and preventing or overcoming regional conflicts.<\/p>\n
They must do their utmost, and do it in a most conscientious
\nway. The way they have shown their leadership skills so far,
\nexcept for in the rhetoric department, has been so dismaying that
\nthey are surely losing all the residual trust that the elite and
\nthe people have in them.<\/p>\n
After all the criticism and debate in the last two months,
\nespecially about Gus Dur's leadership, a certain sensibility and
\ncommon sense has returned to the Indonesian political scene. It
\nstarted with the meeting of the elite in Bali several weeks ago
\nand was followed with a meeting between the three national
\nleaders -- Gus Dur, Amien Rais and Akbar Tandjung -- about
\npolitical developments in anticipation of the MPR session next
\nmonth.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the statements by the 11 factions of the Assembly
\nand other respected leaders such as Nurcholish Madjid, the new
\nchair of Muhammadiyah Ahmad Syafi'i Ma'arif, and Hasyim Muzadi,
\nthe chair of Nahdlatul Ulama, urging a calming of the political
\ndebate and asking the political elite to become more responsible
\nwere encouraging.<\/p>\n
Being at the brink of political chaos, it is hoped more sense
\nand responsibility will be shown by our leaders and elite.
\nOtherwise, another opportunity to establish a democratic and just
\nIndonesia like in the early 1950s will be wasted again. Which
\nwould be a failure the nation could no longer afford.<\/p>\n
The writer is chairman of the supervisory board at the Jakarta-
\nbased Center for Strategic International Studies.<\/p>",
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