Gus Dur under fire at MPR

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid came under fire on Tuesday from virtually every faction in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) for what they judged to be a lackluster first 10 months in office.

Censure came from all fronts and touched on almost all aspects of his presidency, from his poor management skills, lack of urgency in resolving threatening national issues, habit of blurting out confusing and contradictory comments to his unsatisfactory progress in the economic field.

In their closing statements, the United Development Party, Reform and Crescent Star factions all asked Abdurrahman if he was still capable of carrying out his heavy duties as president.

The two largest factions, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and the Golkar Party, were the last to speak in the proceedings chaired by Assembly Speaker Amien Rais.

The Golkar faction was particularly stinging in its criticisms:

"The Golkar faction candidly state that it is unsatisfied and disappointed with the performance of the President," faction spokesman Asep R. Sujana said reading the faction's response.

"There are no signs of significant improvement in the economy, something which may be caused by the President's inability to develop administrative management and good leadership."

Golkar further charged that the President lacked vision and clear perception of the essence of the State Policy Guidelines and the reform agenda.

The PDI Perjuangan faction attacked the government for not only being slow in eradicating collusion, corruption and nepotism, but also for falling into the same trap itself.

The faction also noted a weakening of presidential authority due to what it saw as the abuse of some of the Presidents's personal physical incapacities and his stature as a kiai Muslim preacher.

Nevertheless, the faction still expressed support for the steps the President has pledged to improve the running of government.

Each of the 11 factions were allocated 30 minutes to read their responses to the progress reports of the President and the four other high state institutions -- the House of Representatives, the State Audit Agency, the Supreme Advisory Council and the Supreme Court -- that were presented to the Assembly on Monday.

The responses however focused mostly on the President's report.

Abdurrahman sat patiently through the proceedings, which lasted until about 11.30 p.m.

In its response read by Burhanuddin Somawinata, the United Development (PPP) faction had no qualms about questioning Abdurrahman's leadership qualities.

The speaker reminded Abdurrahman that his election in October was only due to an emergency situation to avoid national disintegration.

"He was the only acceptable figure to most factions at that time to prevent the country from disintegrating. We thought he could gradually solve the multidimensional crisis we had," Burhanuddin said in the prepared speech.

"PPP, however, is disappointed as the President has failed to provide a solid program to rescue the nation after 10 months in power."

He also said many of the President's policies and inconstant political moves posed new threats to the country.

"The President has a tendency to create conflict with his own staff in managing the Cabinet. The President has acted arrogantly in managing the Cabinet in the name of his presidential prerogative".

The faction also questioned Abdurrahman's understanding of the need to maintain national unity.

"The President didn't try to prevent the Papuan People's Congress but instead provided Rp 1 billion despite its clear intention to secede from the republic," he added.

One of the few positive speeches addressed to the President was from his own National Awakening Party (PKB) faction.

Faction member Anwar Iskandar said the government had been earnest in laying down a new foundation for a democratic political system, and had vigorously conducting high-level diplomacy to increase international trust and respect.

Some concerns were raised by the faction about Abdurrahman's managerial skills.

"The President, however, has to improve his managerial skills," Anwar read from a speech, which also encouraged the President to remain patient despite all hardships.

Blame

The Reform faction, a small coalition led by the National Mandate Party (PAN), put the blame squarely on the President for prolonging many of Indonesia's problems. It said that the President was no longer part of the solution, but was "the source of the problems".

"We have no pretension other than the interest of the nation's children. The Reform faction call on the nation to look deeper into this issue, considering that this will determine the fate of around 210 million Indonesian people," faction spokeswoman Nurdiati Akma said.

She said that her faction was the first to nominate Abdurrahman for president at the MPR meeting last October.

"If today we call for a review of the effectivity of the President's performance, that is because we want to save the President, as was ordained by the Prophet (Muhammad): 'save your brother who has sinned or is being sinned.'"

The faction said the President's economic record was worse than his predecessor B.J. Habibie.

The Indonesian Military (TNI)/Police faction criticized the President for giving too many concessions over Aceh and Irian Jaya, which it said had weakened the government's bargaining power and made the job of the security apparatus in the regions more difficult.

Faction spokesman Benyamin Balukh cited the example of the President's decision to allow people in Irian Jaya to hoist the separatist Free Papua Movement flag and to change the province's name to Papua.

The military faction, still a powerful block although with only 38 MPR members, welcomed the President's statement on Monday that the government would not tolerate any attempt by provinces to separate from the republic.

While praising the government for its efforts in political and legal reforms, the faction said they were not ideal.(team)