Golkar to follow the 'voice of the majority'

JAKARTA (JP): While maintaining its commitment to proceeding with constitutional mechanisms to appraise the performance of President Abdurrahman Wahid, Golkar Party will comply with the voice of the majority, a party official said on Monday.

The chairman of the Golkar faction at the House of Representatives, Syamsul Muarif, said the party still had its sights set on the issuance of a second memorandum of censure against Abdurrahman, but it would support the convening of an immediate special session of the People's Consultative Assembly if the move was supported by the majority of House factions.

"If most factions are willing to convene a special session to end the stalemate and formalize a political compromise, Golkar will support that. We will follow the voice of majority," Syamsul said.

"But the special session should hammer out the details of a power-sharing scheme between the President and Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri," he added.

He underlined that a special session could only be held if the President invited the session and all political leaders showed their willingness to sit down together.

"The special session I am referring to would be different from the one that would be called as a follow-up to the ongoing memorandum process," he said.

Syamsul's statements came after Abdurrahman rejected earlier in the day the calls for some type of power-sharing agreement between himself and Megawati.

"I will not compromise on fundamental matters such as the 1945 Constitution," the President said at the Bina Graha presidential office on Monday.

Abdurrahman said earlier such power-sharing arrangements were not included in the Constitution, and the proposal could be implemented only if the Constitution was amended.

Under the power-sharing proposal, which was raised by House Speaker Akbar Tandjung last week, Abdurrahman would continue to serve as the head of state, but would hand over the day-to-day running of the government to Megawati.

Akbar, who is also Golkar Party chairman, said a power-sharing formula between Abdurrahman and Megawati could be the solution to the political bickering over the President's fate.

Political analyst Ichlasul Amal dismissed the idea that splitting power between Abdurrahman and Megawati was the answer to the current political stalemate.

"Handing over the day-to-day running of the government to Megawati is not the solution because the real problem is Abdurrahman's style of leadership and his health," he said in Yogyakarta on Monday.

Amal said the proposed power-sharing arrangement would take a long time to implement and would prove to be ineffective.

Faisal Riza Rachmat, the chairman of the Forum for the Study of Democracy, was of the same opinion as Ichlasul. He said that instead of proposing a compromise, the House and the Assembly should declare Abdurrahman incapable of running the government.

"Legislators are aware of Gus Dur's physical and mental condition, which leave him unfit to perform the tasks of the presidency, and they could address this matter in a special session. The President should step down voluntarily if the Assembly decides he is no longer able to run the administration," he told The Jakarta Post by phone, referring to the President by his nickname.

The head of Abdurrahman's medical team denied last week reports that the President was medically unfit for office.

The power-sharing proposal was presented after Abdurrahman dismissed last week a memorandum of censure issued against him by the House in February for his alleged role in two financial scandals.

Legislators from the main political parties have already said they will move to issue a second memorandum of censure against Abdurrahman. A second memorandum would open the way for a special session of the Assembly, which could lead to the impeachment of the President.

Abdurrahman would have four weeks to respond to a second memorandum of censure. (44/har/sur/dja/rms/byg)