Democracy getting complicated

Democracy getting complicated

President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid is dubbed the most
democratically elected head of state. Officially at least, when
he first assumed office, he was the outspoken champion of equal
rights for all political parties and religious groupings as well.
He was the most acceptable candidate for the presidency although
he only collected about 11 percent of the votes. As a cleric, he
appears to be most tolerant.

After about a year in power, the most democratically elected
president, has become the most ridiculed person in the new reform
era. The call for his resignation is becoming louder every day,
except from his supporters. Presently, the political situation
has become more confusing and the democratic exercises have
become more complicated at that, against the background of slowly
moving economic recovery efforts.

A group of legislators initiated an extraparliamentary
consultation of the most urgent national problems, ending up with
a resolution calling on Gus Dur to step down as the best remedy
for all national ailments. Student demonstrations in support of
the call seems to have increased these days.

The President's supporters have called the consultations, made
outside the official corridors of the House of Representatives
and the People's Consultative Assembly and organized by Kwik Kian
Gie who is a member of the Assembly, unconstitutional. The
President himself, while refusing to budge at the beginning, has
now agreed to step down if forced through constitutional means.
Why do people ignore the progress he has made?

The most conspicuous weakness of the President's management of
the state affairs has been his lack of a sense of priority. When
people were struck by earthquakes, he did not cancel his overseas
trips, which he has indulged in too often. He seems oblivious of
uprisings in a number of provinces demanding self-rule.

People are now speaking of replacing the President with the
Vice President as a means of solving the national crises. Surely,
Gus Dur is not fit to govern judging from his controversial
remarks and his failure to bring Soeharto and the members of the
former first family to justice. Many have accused him of the same
practices of corruption, collusion and nepotism as his
predecessors. He has become an authoritarian.

Independent observers believe that Gus Dur is not a man who
would be willing to surrender to pressure. The nation is waiting
for the moment when the situation becomes so untenable that he
decides to give up power on his own volition. Only his fanatic
followers would not accept that without displaying resistance
which may lead to violence.

At present an atmosphere of deadlock and immobility prevails
politically, economically and constitutionally at the top level
of the nation's leadership. Democracy instead of getting easier
to handle, has become more complicated.

Given these state of affairs, Kwik Kian Gie has the moral
obligation to put democracy on the right track unless his
"torrent" of opinions make things worse and not better.

GANDHI SUKARDI

Jakarta