It's Gus Dur's call
It's Gus Dur's call
More and more leading reformist figures who were among the
most ardent supporters of President Abdurrahman Wahid are now
distancing themselves from the man whom they considered a year
ago as the nation's best hope to lead Indonesia on the reform
path and out of the present crisis. Underpinning this trend is
the growing disillusionment at the lack of progress -- lack of
real reforms -- in Indonesia under the leadership of Gus Dur, as
the President is popularly called, in the last 12 months.
Economist Sjahrir on Monday joined the ranks of respected
public figures like Muslim scholar Nurchoslish Madjid who have
gone public in expressing their disappointment at the President's
leadership. But Sjahrir has probably gone the furthest, saying
that Gus Dur should immediately resign because he has failed to
implement the various reform programs mandated by the people.
Sjahrir has even pronounced the Indonesian reform process dead at
a very young age, thanks to President Abdurrahman.
While many people share the concerns Sjahrir raised about the
President's first year in office, they do not necessarily support
his conclusion. But his demand for resignation nevertheless is
food for thought for all of us concerned with the nation, and
especially for the President himself.
Like Sjahrir, many people are disillusioned at the lack of
progress in strengthening the rule of law, the bedrock of a
healthy democracy. Many cases of human rights abuses,
particularly the fatal shooting of several university students
leading the reform struggle in 1998, have not been resolved in
court and there are no signs they will ever be any time soon.
Many people share Sjahrir's fears that rather than eradicating
corruption, collusion and nepotism as mandated by the people, the
President has allowed, tolerated and probably even encouraged
these practices around the presidential palace. The President's
decision to delay the legal process against three tycoons on
account of their supposedly huge contribution to Indonesia's
export revenue, certainly smacks of a grand collusion.
Granted that President Abdurrahman faces an almost impossible
task in taking Indonesia down the reform path and out of the
present crisis. Most of the problems facing him are the legacy of
more than three decades of misrule and mismanagement. But in the
eyes of many of his critics, not only has he failed to address
these problems to start with, he has also created or piled new
problems unnecessarily. Gus Dur's performance, or lack of it, in
the last 12 months, is enough reason for many of those in the
civil society movement to raise doubts of his reform credentials.
Many people had sincerely believed that Gus Dur, given his
vision and his commitment to democracy and human rights, could
have made a lot of difference in resolving many of the country's
problems. There were many occasions when his leadership,
statesmanship and wisdom were called for in addressing these
problems, but none were forthcoming.
Instead of leading the reform campaign as he should be, Gus
Dur is looking more and more like he is campaigning for himself
and for his National Awakening Party (PKB) for the 2004 general
election. To many people, particularly his friends in the reform
movement, Gus Dur has shed his image as a person who fights for
the nation's interests, for a politician who fights for his
personal or narrow group's interests. It is no wonder that many
are disillusioned.
Whether or not Gus Dur should resign is not really for Sjahrir
or the reform movement to decide, especially now that we have all
professed to adhere to democratic principles, which means playing
by the rules. Both Amien Rais and Akbar Tandjung, as leaders of
the People's Consultative Assembly and House of Representatives
respectively, in the meantime have made it clear they have no
intention to initiate any impeachment process, citing the dangers
of setting an unhealthy precedent of unseating a president before
his five-year term in office is up.
That leaves the matter of his presidency, and therefore the
future of the reform itself and of the nation, entirely in the
hands of Abdurrahman Wahid. But while he may claim to have
constitutional legitimacy, statements from respected figures like
Nurcholish and Sjahrir show that he is fast losing his popular
legitimacy. That will make governing even more difficult unless
he resorts to authoritarian methods.
Whether or not Gus Dur continues to rule at this stage is very
much his own decision. What is clear is that the nation cannot
afford to remain at a standstill for very much longer. But
whatever decision he comes to, it should put the interest of the
nation first and foremost before his own personal ambitions.
Since the ball is very much in his court, he should take the
initiative to try to break the nation from the present of state
of stalemate, before a solution is imposed upon him.