Is Amien Rais desperate?

Is Amien Rais desperate?

By Benny Subianto

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives (DPR) censured
President Abdurrahman Wahid for his alleged involvement in two
financial scandals on Feb. 1. Within about one hour, Amien Rais,
the Speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), said in
an interview with a local television station that the President
should declare his resignation.

Furthermore Amien stated that under different circumstances
the Assembly could convene a special session that could be a
precursor to an impeachment process against the President. The
Speaker believes that convening a special session would be better
than issuing the first memorandum.

Although eight out of the House's 10 factions have accepted
the result of the special commission, and two factions (that of
United Development and Reform) strongly urged the Assembly to
convene a special session, DPR's plenary session finally agreed
to issue a memorandum, instead of calling the Assembly to convene
a special session.

The issuance of the first memorandum indicates that
legislators have softened their political stance against the
President. The House's memorandum is a warning to the President
and the latter is given three months to respond. If the first
memorandum goes unheeded, the House will issue the second
memorandum that must be responded to within 30 days.

If the second memorandum is unheeded, the House can call the
Assembly to convene a special session.

From his body language during the television interview that
took place only a few hours before the House decided to issue the
first memorandum, it was clear that Amien was desperate to
convene the Assembly special session as a process to impeach the
President.

It is very likely that Amien was displeased with the House
decision to issue the first memorandum later that evening, which
might provide loop-holes for Abdurrahman to survive.

Analysts and the man in the street realize that Amien has been
quite embittered with the President. Apparently Amien and his
"central axis" politicians realize that the Wahid administration
does not meet their interests. The President's proposal to open
direct trade relations with Israel and the lifting of the MPR
1966 Decree on the ban of communism has deeply disturbed those in
the "central axis".

It is widely believed that the endorsement of Abdurrahman
Wahid to become president by Amien and the central axis during
the Assembly General Session in October 1999 was a tactical move
to obstruct Megawati's chance for the presidency.

Amien argued that if Megawati were elected president, it would
have created severe tension between her political supporters and
opponents. Amien successfully convinced the Assembly members that
Abdurrahman was the only political figure widely accepted by the
contending political groups.

From the very beginning, nonetheless, politicians and
political analysts have been suspicious over Amien's efforts to
promote Abdurrahman. Amien and the Muslim-based political
parties' strong political reluctance toward Megawati was due to
the latter's secular-nationalist political platform, which was
incompatible with their interests.

In addition, among the modernist Muslim politicians, in
particular within the now defunct Masyumi Party, Megawati is seen
as the successor of the late president Soekarno who banned their
party in 1960 and jailed a number of its politicians.

In terms of personal relations, it is hard to imagine that
Amien is a sincere supporter of Abdurrahman. First, each of them
became the chairman of the two largest Muslim organizations,
Amien, chairman of Muhammadiyah and Abdurrahman chairman of
Nahdathul Ulama, that have been decade long rivals.

Until the last years of the New Order, the political stance of
both Amien and Abdurrahman were diametrical, in particular
concerning political pluralism, and the balance between Muslims
and non Muslims, the role of the Association of Indonesian Muslim
Intellectuals, and their relation to Soeharto's power.

In late 1996, Amien and Abdurrahman were still debating their
political views and strategies at the Sunda Kelapa Mosque in
Central Jakarta.

A few months before the downfall of Soeharto's New Order
Government, Amien tactically switched his political strategies,
swinging from being Muslim-oriented to pluralist.

During the outbreak of the anti-Chinese and anti-Christian
riots in Jakarta and other areas, he strongly condemned the
rioters and defended the minority groups. Soon he gained
substantial political support from the minorities.

By that time many believed that Amien had abandoned his
sectarian political stance. He was known as the engine of the
reformasi movement.

His role in establishing and chairing the National Mandate
Party (PAN) convinced the wider political audience that he was a
real pluralist leader. This led Amien to declare that he was
going to run for the presidential election.

Many analysts labeled him as one of the strongest presidential
candidates or aspirants. Others cynically assumed that he was
desperately seeking the presidential seat.

Having realized that his party only gained about 7 percent of
popular votes, he dropped the plan.

It is quite true that Abdurrahman's administration has failed
to meet the political expectations of most Indonesians, except
for his staunch supporters from the circle of Nahdathul Ulama and
the National Awakening Party (PKB) which he founded.

The President has not seriously taken stern actions against
the New Order's corruption, collusion, and nepotism. At the same
time his administration and inner circle have created its own
practices of corruption and nepotism.

The wrongdoing of the administration, nonetheless, has not
provided a legal base for the House and Assembly members to
topple the President.

The House's special commission concluded that the President
Abdurrahman allegedly played a role in the withdrawal and
disbursement of Rp 35 billion from the Bulog foundation and the
President had been inconsistent in explaining the US$2 million
donation from the Sultan of Brunei.

Nonetheless, the plenary session of the House has twisted the
allegation into the phrase "the President has indeed violated the
Constitution and the Assembly Decree".

Such a twisted allegation seems to be the legal basis for
Amien to promptly convene the Assembly special session. If this
happens, it will create a new political tradition of toppling a
president based on mere allegations.

Fortunately, the House finally decided to send the first
memorandum that gives the President an opportunity to prove
whether he violated the Constitution and Assembly Decree.

The writer is a Jakarta-based researcher.