Agum opposes imposing state of emergency
Agum opposes imposing state of emergency
JAKARTA (JP): Newly installed Coordinating Minister for
Political, Social and Security Affairs Agum Gumelar has kept his
predecessor's key policy intact with his opposition to the
issuance of a presidential decree on a state of emergency.
Agum, touching upon the sensitive issue for the first time
since taking over from Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Saturday, said
such a decree was not "a proper manner to cope with contemporary
political problems".
"I think the present circumstances are not favorable for the
enforcement of the decree. The decree would not be a choice of
mine," he said, after a ceremony that marked the official
transfer of duty from him to the new Minister of Communications
Budhi Muliawan Suyitno.
Despite his repeated denial, President Abdurrahman Wahid was
said to consider a state of emergency as a last-ditch attempt to
evade his impeachment following two motions of censure issued by
the House of Representatives over his alleged role in two
financial scandals.
Susilo, who led an eight-member team who drew up alternative
solutions to the protracted political stalemate, had openly
thrown his weight against the planned decree until President
Abdurrahman Wahid dismissed him last Friday.
Both the Indonesian Military and National Police joined Susilo
in resisting the plan, placing more pressure on Abdurrahman to
drop his controversial bid.
Agum reiterated on Wednesday that he would rely on building
good communications between conflicting members of the political
elite rather than push for a decree on a state of emergency,
which would enable the President to dissolve the House and the
People's Consultative Assembly.
"I believe the frozen relations at present could melt if each
party is not made to feel that it is doing wrong. Besides, most
Indonesians from across the archipelago are of the same
expectation that the political crisis should be tackled for the
sake of everyone's safety," Agum said, who rated his new job as
mission impossible.
Abdurrahman said Agum was expected to bridge and mend
relations between the embattled President and his Vice President,
Megawati Soekarnoputri, whose Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle is on the vanguard of concerted efforts to force him to
step down.
The Assembly has set Aug. 1 as the date for the special
session to hear Abdurrahman's accountability speech.
Compromise
Separately, political observer Arbi Sanit suggested that the
disputing political elite seek a new compromise that would not
cost Abdurrahman his presidency.
"Without replacing the President and Vice President, a new
coalition of parties must be formed to provide the two top
executives with stronger political backing," Arbi told a seminar.
Once the coalition is formalized, the government and the House
could arrange plans on how to defuse the protracted economic and
political crisis first and then reform the bureaucracy and
judicial and representatives institutions.
Arbi, of the University of Indonesia, criticized both the
presidential decree on a state of emergency and the MPR special
session to impeach the President, saying the two moves ignored
political fairness and only asserted political freedom.
"Under democracy, there should be a correlation between
procedures and the substance," he said. (rms/amd)