Former presidents battle for power

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, one of the country's three former living presidents, is stepping up efforts to regain the presidential seat he had to abandon in July 2001 following his ouster by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

The visually impaired president reiterated on Sunday the stance of his National Awakening Party (PKB) which consistently opposes any proposal to make Indonesia into an Islamic state and emphasized that the country should maintain its unique pluralistic outlook.

Speaking during the party's campaign in Denpasar, Bali, the former chairman of the country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, gave his assurance that his party guaranteed the protection of minorities.

"Pluralism is a very beautiful asset, which is not found among other nations in the world," said the former president.

Megawati Soekarnoputri, who served as vice president under his presidency, replaced Gus Dur three years ago after the MPR revoked its mandate for him. Many people, including his inner- circle, believe that the main reason for his downfall was his inability to tame his habit of issuing controversial statements.

"He has an unfinished mission that he has to deal with, and it is not fair to deny him his political rights simply because of his physical condition," Gus Dur's daughter, Zannuba Arifah Chafsoh Rahman, told the Post.

"As his daughter, I wish he would not join the race, but it has to be his decision to quit," she underlined.

While Gus Dur wishes to regain his own position, Soeharto is seemingly edging his eldest daughter Siti Hardijanti "Tutut" Rukmana closer to the presidential seat. His daughter's biggest asset is her own father, who was once called as the father of development.

Tutut is now campaigning for the Concern for the Nation Functional Party (PKPB), reminding the people of the period under Soeharto before the economic crisis of 1997. In her campaign in Denpasar, Tutut asked the crowds to pray for her father's health.

Soeharto remains beyond the reach of the law since his fall, mainly thanks to his lawyers' ability to convince the courts that Soeharto would not likely recover from the effect of the strokes he had suffered .

Former president, B.J.Habibie has been left out in the ongoing election season, with no prospects of staying on the country's political stage. His two sons also show no interest in politics.

After his failure to win the presidential race in October 1999, Habibie has spent most of his time in Germany caring for his wife, Ainun Habibie, who is undergoing treatment there. He replaced his mentor Soeharto in May 1998.

"Indonesia is still his main concern, he always has the intention of coming back and living here," Habibie's nephew Adrie Soebono told The Jakarta Post last week.

The East Timorese people will always remember him for his dramatic decision to allow the tiny province to hold a referendum for self determination in 1999. The decision was a bitter pill for Indonesia but the world praised him for the historic decision.