Gus Dur's ideas a major headache

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