Acting presidential

Acting presidential

"Too much generality and not enough specifics," commented one member of the audience when Indonesian Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri addressed businessmen at a forum in Singapore yesterday.

It is a rare occasion when Ms. Megawati has anything at all to say in public. And at first glance, her speech failed to give any clue as to how she would handle her country's political crisis or whether she had any clear ideas on ways to revive its collapsed economy.

But reading between the lines, the observant would notice that her seemingly bland statements contained a subtle warning that her homeland is in deep trouble and that any further deterioration could have disastrous consequences.

As the next in line to become president, Ms. Megawati has been careful to avoid any public comments which may be interpreted as an embarrassment to President Abdurrahman Wahid. She stuck to that practice in Singapore, but yesterday's speech still sounded her most presidential so far.

It may be that Ms. Megawati is adopting a higher profile as Mr. Wahid becomes more beleaguered, although the situation is so volatile that it is hard to say if Mr. Wahid can pull through the crisis sparked off by his alleged involvement in a corruption scandal. One of the most serious blunders Mr. Wahid made recently was failing to give Ms. Megawati the powers he promised in acknowledgment of her loyalty. Ms. Megawati's Democratic Party of Struggle holds 30 percent of the seats in Parliament, while Mr. Wahid's National Awakening Party has only a third of that number.

Until she authorized her party to vote for a motion to censure the President, Ms. Megawati had supported the ailing Mr. Wahid. But the "mother of the nation" and daughter of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno is an unknown quantity. Political power is already hers, but she apparently will do nothing unconstitutional. Her father wrote the constitution. She will abide by it and let matters take their own course.

It is too early to write off Mr. Wahid, but a woman leader in Jakarta is beginning to look a better option, even to parties traditionally against the idea of female rule. Hers would be a more authoritarian rule, but it might get the country back on track, provided she picks able ministers.

-- The South China Morning Post, Hong Kong