President's character

President's character

Pak Soegih Arto in his letter (The Jakarta Post, March 2,
2001) dreamed of Gus Dur's sweet victory when people were urging
him to immediately return from his overseas trip and pilgrimage.
CNN quoted the calls as "Gus Dur, come back. Or don't bother to
return at all".

Well, it could be perceived that way, but I believed the calls
were merely to see how much sense of crises Gus Dur has with
regard to the Sampit tragedy. Different heads of state have
different characters and attitudes. I recalled those who gave
priority to domestic issues and returned home immediately when
something serious occurs when they were overseas, no matter how
important their trips were.

I know for sure the President would return home safely on
March 7 as scheduled, and he would be happy to see the success of
Ibu Megawati and her team's visit to Sampit.

Then we will see him making more overseas trips, and leave the
day-to-day administration to the Vice President. Perhaps, it is a
test case that he is undertaking to prove his capability and
whether Ibu Megawati is ready to take over the presidency. And
when the time is right (before 2004), he will gracefully
relinquish the presidential seat to Ibu Megawati.

Y. LUCAS

Jakarta