Control Gus Dur, says scholar

Control Gus Dur, says scholar

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): Strict control over President Abdurrahman
"Gus Dur" Wahid is imperative now that he is guiding the nation
through a trial-and-error democracy, a noted Muslim scholar said
here on Friday.

Nurcholish Madjid, rector of the Jakarta-based Paramadina
University, said in his address to participants of the National
Dialog Forum here that confusion in practices of democracy was
understandable during the mistake-ridden period, but it should
not wreak havoc on democratization itself.

"Confusion is prevailing in the country under the present
government because of the rapid changes we negotiated during the
past two years," Nurcholish said.

"This is a hint that the country is learning to be a
democratic one, but it has no strong foundation. All this
confusion will some day be valuable experience for the country's
democracy."

Dozens of the country's renowned figures and some 200 people
from all walks of life are attending the two-day national dialog
here. The gathering is meant to find ideas of systematic methods
the country could adopt to cope with the problems it is now
facing.

Organizers have divided the discussion into six topics,
including ethics in politics, law enforcement, disintegration
threats, a clean government and economic recovery.

The gathering is being held less than two months ahead of the
General Session of People's Consultative Assembly, which many
assume will be a test of Abdurrahman's survival as president.

Abdurrahman is slated to receive summary of the discussions on
Saturday.

Nurcholish, one of the dialog's organizers, asserted that
persistent control over Abdurrahman would prevent him from
committing further mistakes and maintaining his tendency to
making compromises.

"If Gus Dur continues to resort to compromise in solving many
of the country's problems, we will only continue to make
mistakes," he remarked.

Check and balance

He said the interpellation motion demanded by the House of
Representatives was part of efforts to uphold the principle of
check and balance in the country.

Despite Abdurrahman's weaknesses, however, Nurcholish
expressed his support for the President, who won his post in the
most democratic presidential election in the country's history
last October.

Nurcholish said those limitations should be the reasons for
people to join forces and help Abdurrahman to bring changes
about.

Another speaker at the dialog, Sri Mulyani Indrawati,
attributed the country's stagnant economy to uncertain
regulations that could affect relationships between the
government, businessmen and the public.

However, she added that reviewing such regulations would need
time and patience.

"The current government is still bothered by many of the
previous regime's problems and mistakes, which hamper the
establishment of clear regulations for many business fields in
the country," said Sri Mulyani, who is secretary of the National
Economic Council.

She added that the economic performance of Abdurrahman's
administration could not be solely blamed on the President, whom
she said lacked experience and was being abused by certain groups
that once supported his bid for the presidency.

Another organizer and noted economic observer, Faisal Basri,
said the gathering would try to proportionally look into the
country's problems.

"We do not mean to gather support for anybody, but I believe
it is proportional to say that other national leaders in the
House of Representatives and People's Consultative Assembly are
being held responsible for the recent condition," he said.

On the sidelines of the dialog, another organizer of the
gathering, Yogyakarta's Sultan Hamengkubuwono X told The Jakarta
Post of his disappointment with his fellow reform movement
figures who "keep up against each other to achieve their
political ambitions".

"In the people's eyes, the conflict between the political
elite has moved into an effort to topple the present government.
Should it be like that while there are many people suffering?.

"I just hope all the political elite stick together to take
the country out of the crises," he said.

Hamengkubuwono joined Abdurrahman, Amien Rais and Vice
President Megawati Soekarnoputri in leading the opposition force
to demand the resignation of former president Soeharto two years
ago. Many attribute their emergence to the political stage as the
beginning of the reform movement in the country. (dja/zen)