The power game

The power game

For many people at the grassroots level in Indonesia, Megawati
Sukarnoputri has been the great hope for the country ever since
she withstood the efforts of former president Suharto to depose
her as leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party in 1996. It was
her courage in the face of military thuggishness that won her
massive support in the June parliamentary election, and brought
her the consolation prize of the vice-presidency when Abdurrahman
Wahid was elected last October.

But Mr. Wahid's announcement that he is finally about to
delegate some powers to his second-in-command, giving her more
say in the day-to-day running of the cabinet, is welcomed more
for its tacit acknowledgement of his own limitations, than for
confidence in the abilities of Ms. Megawati to solve Indonesia's
economic woes.

Lack of political experience aside, she has not been very
effective in her efforts to halt the violence between Muslims and
Christians in the Malukus. That is the only yardstick by which it
is possible to judge her skills, since she has otherwise kept a
low profile over the past 10 months.

But the more important point in recent events in Jakarta is
that "Gus Dur" (President Abdurrahman Wahid) has held on to his
job by telling parliament what it wanted to hear. National
stability is maintained at least for the time being. It will be
some time before it becomes clear whether parliament can draw up
ground rules that ensure that Ms. Megawati has genuine power, but
perhaps only a short period after that to determine whether she
is sufficiently adroit to stay in control in a system where there
are so many vested interests in resisting reforms and maintaining
the status quo.

The Vice-President's support from other parliamentarians may
be in part because they think she could be easier to manipulate
than he President.

A major bargaining session will now be going on, with all
parties jockeying for a share of power. But it is part of the
political reality in Jakarta that reformers must accept they have
to make deals with some less welcome bedfellows if they are to
survive.

Pruning the cabinet to 25 members should help to streamline
the system, making it easier for her to establish firm control;
but the crucial question is precisely how much power Mr. Wahid is
prepared to relinquish. He is not a man to let go of the reins
easily.

And if, as his critics point out, he has made little progress
on the domestic front, that is in part due to the difficulties of
dealing with a civil service that flourished under former
president Suharto, and has no appetite for reforms. His
performance may have been erratic, but is there anyone in the
background who could do any better?

-- The South China Morning Post, Hong Kong