Gus Dur calls for people's understanding

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid renewed his call on Monday for the public to be patient and understanding of the slow pace of the reform movement.

Speaking at the opening of a symposium held by the Association of the University of Indonesia Alumni (Iluni-UI), Abdurrahman said a total reform of a system which ruled the country for more than 32 years could not take place overnight.

But despite the difficulties, the President underlined his commitment to keeping the reform movement on track.

"I will guarantee we will not ignore the democratization process, law enforcement, freedom of speech for all citizens and the honest accountability of the government to the public," Abdurrahman said.

He vowed he would not hesitate to clarify any corruption, collusion and nepotism which could be linked to him or his administration.

"Personally, it doesn't bother me if I have to face questioning for any alleged corruption or collusion," he said.

His eight-month-old government has met with criticism for its failure to quickly improve the country's economy and legal certainty. At the same time there have been signs of the return of corruption, collusion and nepotism practices that involve Abdurrahman's inner circle, including the Bulog scandal and the appointment of Abdurrahman's bother Hasyim Wahid as an official at the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA).

Abdurrahman said the public could not rely on the ideal implementation of reform and forget the actual difficulty in upholding the law, especially when it came to solving many high- profile corruption or human rights abuse cases.

"To prove all the allegations in the light of law is not easy and people tend to blame the attorney general for it, while the attorney general almost cries whenever he discusses those cases with me," Abdurrahman said.

He further attributed the difficulty in carrying out legal reform to the House of Representatives, which need to change many regulations which are the legacy of the past regime.

"The reform movement should be conducted in a legal framework. I plead to the public to have a little patience and give us a fair chance, the government and the House, so we can carry out legal reform properly," he said.

The President also said the country's political leaders had yet to show their commitment to putting national interests above all else.

"We can see that most of our leaders are busy with their private or group's agenda, and only a few of them really think about national interest," Abdurrahman said.

He also blasted many parties for appraising his administration and setting a time limit for him to correct the system and conduct total reform.

"I hate any time limit and I do not want to listen to the unfair performance appraisals, which are based on rumors, because every decision I make is for the sake of national interest," he said.

Abdurrahman also said the reform movement was the nation's responsibility and the government only played a role as the initiator while the rest was up to the people.

"I call on everybody to educate themselves and the community to establish clean and good governance. It is up to the people and never put the responsibility on the government," he said. (dja)