Gus Dur's ideas a major headache

Recently, Nahdlatul Ulama chairman Abdurrahman Wahid, better known as Gus Dur, proposed that the state's power be split: the position of the head of state would be assumed by the chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and that of the head of the government by the president.

Now he has come up with a proposal that the state's power be in the hands of Megawati as president, Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X as vice president, Amien Rais as House speaker and himself as chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly. It seems that Gus Dur is an inexhaustible source of ideas; we all must be ready for his shocking and weird proposals in the future.

On the one hand, Gus Dur's ideas can be considered a significant breakthrough in the deadlock for the upcoming MPR session. On the other hand, his ideas are not realistic and do not make sense because one gets the impression that Gus Dur is simply toying with his whims. Everybody knows that there is a fixed mechanism for delegating positions in the government and in state institutions. Certainly, Gus Dur cannot merely follow his whims and determine that a position should go to someone and another position to another.

It is the MPR which can determine who is entitled to a particular position based on their abilities. Clearly, as the sovereignty of this state is not something that Gus Dur has inherited from his ancestors, it is not his place to regulate and determine how positions in the state's highest institutions should be filled.

As a layman, I appreciate Gus Dur's ideas, but I would like to call on him not to introduce his ideas to the public without thinking long and hard beforehand. Otherwise, his ideas are nothing more than a headache for the state.

WARINO SKP

Jakarta