Gus Dur, Megawati hold crisis talks

Gus Dur, Megawati hold crisis talks

JAKARTA (JP): A flurry of meetings were held within the
country's two highest offices on Tuesday as senior Cabinet
officials tried to seek a political compromise to salvage the
administration amid tension between President Abdurrahman Wahid
and Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security
Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono emerged as the central figure in
the negotiations, which focused on a deal to delegate the running
of the government to Megawati.

"The most realistic choice now is to look at the possibility
of sharing power between the President and the Vice President ...
we need to reconsider whether Presidential Decree No. 121 is
really effective," Susilo told journalists at around 10 p.m.,
minutes after chairing a meeting of seven senior ministers.

Susilo, who leads a team of seven ministers tasked by
Abdurrahman to give advice on the leadership crisis, was
referring to a decree relating to the handover of the day-to-day
running of the government to Megawati, issued after the annual
session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in August
2000.

Politicians have suggested that the decree was ineffective
because the President has so far been reluctant to hand over
authority to Megawati.

Susilo denied that the team had called on the President to
resign and dismissed concerns that the current administration was
no longer effective.

His remarks came after the team had spent the day shuttling
between Abdurrahman and Megawati, trying to design an "amicable"
political solution.

The day began with a three-hour meeting between Megawati and
the ministers at the Vice President's residence on Jl. Teuku
Umar, Central Jakarta.

That was followed by a meeting with the president at Merdeka
Palace at around 11:30 a.m..

"We were discussing ways of developing a constructive
political solution and the President has instructed that the Vice
President and ministers continue the dialog to find a suitable
solution," Susilo told reporters after the 90-minute unscheduled
meeting which included Abdurrahman and Megawati.

Other ministers in the team are Minister of Home Affairs and
Regional Autonomy Surjadi Soedirdja, Minister of Defense Mahfud
M.D., Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab, Minister of
Justice and Human Rights Baharuddin Lopa, Coordinating Minister
for the Economy Rizal Ramli and Attorney General Marzuki
Darusman.

Megawati was the last to arrive, discreetly entering Merdeka
Palace through a side entrance.

The Vice President was seen leaving at around 1 p.m., at which
time she headed to a weekly meeting of her party, the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).

While the exact details of the meeting at the palace were
sketchy, Lopa hinted that the team was trying to find "the best
possible solution that can peacefully end the political impasse".

"We are trying to come up with a solution that can satisfy
everyone ... what exactly this is going to be is still being
worked out," Lopa said.

Presidential spokesman Wimar Witoelar said later on Tuesday
afternoon that Abdurrahman demanded any solution be "one that
would satisfy all and does not violate the Constitution".

He said the effort by team members to safeguard the current
process of democratization was not aimed at saving Abdurrahman,
but "the political process for all".

Wimar also said that the President had canceled appointments
and several out-of-town trips on Tuesday.

Options

The whirlwind of activity arrived at a time when Abdurrahman's
options have become further limited due to the issuance of a
second memorandum of censure by the House of Representatives,
which brings him one step closer to a special Assembly session
and possible impeachment proceedings.

Reports said that, during a breakfast meeting with military
officials on Saturday, the President proposed that he would
suspend the House through a presidential decree.

The idea, however, was immediately rejected by Army Chief of
Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto.

Many believe that the only viable options available to
Abdurrahman now are his immediate resignation or the transfer of
much of his authority to Megawati, which could leave him
primarily acting as a figurehead.

A source close to Megawati told The Jakarta Post later in the
day that the meeting at Megawati's residence discussed
strengthening the presidential decree on transferal of the
running of government to Megawati into an MPR decree.

Later in the day, a PDI Perjuangan official admitted that the
meeting between the President, Vice President and the seven
ministers was postponing Megawati's plan to convene a meeting of
political party leaders.

"We will wait for further developments ... the planned meeting
between political parties is important but we want to do it at
the right time," deputy chairman Roy B. Janis said, adding that
no date had been set of for the planned meeting.

Pramono Anung Wibowo, deputy secretary general of PDI
Perjuangan, said the party preferred to look for a political
compromise, explaining that an MPR special session would not
necessarily impeach the President. (02/byg/dja/rms)