Axis force 'no longer supports President'

JAKARTA (JP): The Axis Force, a loose coalition of the National Mandate Party (PAN) and several Islamic parties, which was the key in getting Abdurrahman Wahid elected president, has withdrawn their support, top alliance leader Amien Rais said on Sunday.

"The Axis Forces used to champion Abdurrahman Wahid in his presidency, but we no longer support him upon seeing his "dangerous" performance," Amien, who is also PAN chairman, told reporters after inaugurating his party's new head office on Jl. Tebet Timur Raya, South Jakarta.

Amien, who is known as a harsh critic of the President, has several times reproached Abdurrahman and even called on him to resign. However, this is the first time that he claimed that the Axis Force had also abandoned the President.

The Axis Force played a pivotal role during the October 1999 presidential election where, at the beginning, Abdurrahman was seen as a distant outsider in the race.

The Axis Force currently comprises PAN, the United Development Party (PPP), Crescent and Star Party (PBB), Justice Party and several minor parties.

Several observers have suggested that the Axis Force's support for Abdurrahman at the time was a calculated political move as they did not want the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's Megawati Soekarnoputri to win the presidency.

But the honeymoon between Abdurrahman and the Axis Force did not last long, particularly after PPP chairman Hamzah Haz had to leave the cabinet just weeks after he was sworn in.

The ministers currently serving in the Cabinet who are regarded as representatives of the Axis Force are Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Minister of Cooperatives and Small Enterprise Development Zarkasih Noor and Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Alhilal Hamdi.

Force

Despite his clear opposition to the President, Amien however pledged that the Axis Force would not be deploying the masses as a show of force.

Instead, he claimed, they would pursue civilized and democratic ways to convey their opinions.

"We could use procedures in the House of Representatives, such as a memorandum or a special session," Amien, who is also Speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly, added.

"We should not be too afraid that there will be a doomsday. Leaders come and go, like you and me also come and go," he added.

However, on a separate occasion earlier in Surabaya, Amien when pressed by journalists denied that he was betraying Abdurrahman, and instead charged that National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairman Matori Abdul Djalil, who heads the party Abdurrahman helped establish, is the one seen as a betrayer.

"It was Matori that betrayed Gus Dur because back then (in the October 1999 election) he choose Megawati, but now he backs Abdurrahman. Who is betraying both Gus Dur and Megawati?" he asked.

Amien's continued criticism, however, has left many people somewhat confused as he had maintained that he would persist in taking moderate steps towards the current administration.

"There are two groups in the House: one which wishes for Gus Dur's administration to continue until 2004, and the other which wants him to resign," he told reporters.

"I myself, along with several friends, however, have chosen the moderate way in which Gus Dur should be given a chance to improve the administration's performance with the benchmark being (the results of) the Bulogate special committee.

"If he manages to pass (the test), it will mean that he has latitude to improve his performance," Amien said.

If not, it means that Abdurrahman will only have three months to rule (the country) before the House submits a memorandum, he stressed. (nur/edt/dja/jun)