President empasizes he is still in charge

President empasizes he is still in charge

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid played down on
Friday his decision to hand over the day-to-day running of the
government to Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri, saying that
he was still in charge.

With the debate rolling on at the People's Consultative
Assembly (MPR) over whether to issue a decree to regulate the
job-sharing arrangement, Abdurrahman's National Awakening Party
(PKB) was quick to warn it would walk out of the MPR Annual
Session now underway if the Assembly sought to make the proposal
into a binding decree.

Speaking to a gathering of senior leaders of the Nahdlatul
Ulama (NU) Muslim organization, Abdurrahman said that what had
been handed over to Megawati was only the running of the day-to-
day technicalities of the government and not the overall
authority for it.

He said that Megawati would be helped by a coordinating
minister in her new jobs.

"There is still some confusion about this, so I want to stress
here that what has been handed over to the Vice President is not
authority but duties," Abdurrahman, who chaired NU for 15 years
before being elected as president last year, said.

"The authority remains in the President's hands," he added.

Earlier on Thursday, Minister of Law and Legislation Yusril
Ihza Mahendra announced on the President's behalf that sharing
some of the presidential workload did not change in anyway the
president's status as both head of state and head of government.

In his response to the MPR factions' general comments on his
administration on Wednesday, Abdurrahman said he would charge
Megawati with the daily tasks of government, drawing up the
Cabinet agenda and establishing the focus and priorities of
government.

"Thank God that Mbak Megawati and the MPR leadership have
accepted this," Abdurrahman, better known as Gus Dur, said on
Friday.

Megawati, who chairs the country's largest party, the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), has not
made any comment so far on her new role. Many analysts have said
that it remains to be seen whether she is capable of doing her
duty.

Abdurrahman claimed that he had been informed that the
Assembly had agreed that it was not necessary to formalize the
work-sharing arrangement between himself and the Vice President.

"When I left for Banjarmasin (on Thursday) we found out that
80 percent of the MPR factions had said they would not go ahead
with the MPR decree idea.

"Thank God, I checked again and actually all the factions have
said they would not back the issuance of such a decree," he said.

He warned legislators on Thursday against meddling in
executive affairs by trying to regulate his plan to share his
workload with Megawati.

The President said that he would issue a presidential decree
on Megawati's new role and "reshuffle and restructure" the
Cabinet sometime after the MPR annual meeting, which ends on Aug.
18.

The Assembly's decision on whether to formalize the President
and Vice President's work-sharing arrangement will be discussed
by the Commission C assigned with assessing the progress reports
presented by the state's high institutions. The deliberation
starts on Saturday.

"We oppose the issue being discussed in the Assembly's
Commission C," Reform faction member Hatta Radjasa said at the
commission's first meeting.

The PKB faction threatened to quit the MPR annual session if
the Assembly set its sights on issuing a decree on the issue,
saying it was against the Constitution.

"We will not participate in the decision-making process, nor
be responsible for any decree that is against the Constitution.
We may walk out of the session if it happens," Yusuf Muhammad,
chairman of the PKB faction told a media conference.

Some members of PDI Perjuangan faction spoke of the necessity
of the Assembly decree, while the Golkar Party faction said it
was enough for the President to regulate it in a presidential
decree.

Zulvan Lindan, a member of the PDI Perjuangan faction, said
the Assembly had to issue a decree stipulating Megawati's new
job.

"The President's pledge cannot be considered a ruling because
he is not firm in his stances. And his stand on the this matter
could change from one day to the next," he told The Jakarta Post
on Friday.

Amien Aryoso, another PDI Perjuangan legislator, said the
Assembly could insert the delegation of duty from the President
to the Vice President in the decree on the Assembly's
recommendations to the government.

Hartono Mardjono of the Crescent Star Party declined to
comment, saying his faction was undecided on that matter.

"Our faction will support what the commission says," he said.

Endin Achmad Jalaluddin Soefihara of the United Development
Party (PPP) faction said if the decree was issued, both the
President and Vice President should make a progress report to the
Assembly's next annual meeting.

"If Megawati fails to manage the administration, the Assembly
will have two knives to cut at both Gus Dur and Mega in the next
Annual Session," he warned. (byg/dja/rms/jun)