Gus Dur pledges to remain accessible
Gus Dur pledges to remain accessible
JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid reiterated on
Wednesday a pledge that together with Vice President Megawati
Soekarnoputri regular dialogs would be held with the public and
that in line with the new openness palace protocol would be
relaxed.
Speaking at a breakfast meeting with senior editors at the
State Guest House, the President said that one opportunity for
such meetings would be after weekly Friday prayers were
conducted.
Abdurrahman said he intended to alternate between attending
Friday prayers at the Baiturrahman Mosque inside the palace
compound, the mosque near his private residence in Ciganjur,
South Jakarta, and at one additional mosque.
He said such meetings would allow him to gain firsthand
information from the general public.
He expressed a desire not to repeat the mistake of his
predecessors who depended on subordinates for information which
regularly proved to be inaccurate.
"Mbak Mega and I will meet with people regularly, not only in
Jakarta but also in other provinces," said the President, who is
popularly known as Gus Dur.
Abdurrahman said he would not reshuffle his newly announced
Cabinet, despite mounting pressure to remove several unpopular
ministers, including State Minister of Environment Soni Keraf and
Minister of Labor Bomer Pasaribu.
The President said it would be unfair to dismiss the ministers
without giving them a chance to prove themselves.
Abdurrahman said the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi)
had criticized Soni's appointment, citing his inexperience for
the post. Bomer, whose appointment was protested by the
Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI), was recommended to the
post by Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung.
"Walhi go ahead and protest, I will meet with them directly,"
the President said.
He quipped that in the future in preferred to meet with
reporters rather than senior editors. "Reporters raise tough
questions because they truly work," he joked.
After his meeting, the President received Australia's
Ambassador to Indonesia, John McCarthy. During the meeting he was
accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab.
The discussion focused on deteriorating relations between the
two countries in recent months.
"I think the relationship is in enormously better shape than
it was say three or four weeks ago, but I think both sides
acknowledge that we have to go forward in measured ways,"
McCarthy said after the meeting.
Another guest who would never have been received at the palace
during the Soeharto era was author Pramoedya Ananta Toer.
Speaking to reporters before the meeting, Pramoedya, who was
nominated earlier this year for the Nobel Prize in literature,
said he would protest a recent statement by the President on
Aceh.
Abdurrahman said on Tuesday that mass killings in Aceh were
not committed by military personnel, but by a group of people who
wore military uniforms.
"If his statement is true it means that the President must sue
the tailors who have tailored the uniforms for unauthorized
people," Pramoedya said.
Many of Pramoedya's books were banned during Soeharto's New
Order era for their supposedly communist undertones.
Despite the new era of openness, old aversions had not been
entirely stamped out. Palace officials subtlety restricted
coverage of the meeting between the President and Pramoedya,
referring to the internationally acclaimed writer as an
"undesirable" guest.
SBSI chairman Muchtar Pakpahan surprised palace security
guards when he arrived unannounced later in the day and insisted
that he wanted to meet with Abdurrahman. He said he wished to
accompany 11 Acehnese community leaders who wanted an audience
with Abdurrahman.
"I just wanted to prove to myself whether or not he would
become untouchable after becoming President," Muchtar said. (prb)