The riddle of Gus Dur

The riddle of Gus Dur

Abdurrahman Wahid, better known as Gus Dur, never stops
presenting us with riddles on his political stance. Now he has
revived the issue of the "axis force" (poros tengah), which was
already on the wane as a subject of public discourse. In a
discussion in Jakarta on Tuesday, Gus Dur loudly declared his
acceptance of the axis force's bid to make him a candidate in the
upcoming presidential elections. It was not so long ago that Gus
Dur said his candidacy was proposed by (National Mandate Party
chairman) Amien Rais without his knowledge. "Amien Rais is free
to put me up for the presidency, but my own candidate is still
Megawati," he said at the time.

We may shake our heads in disbelief or be stunned into
silence, but we could just as easily say: "That's Gus Dur for
you. His statements are often as fickle as the weather and
difficult to rely on."

Gus Dur, apparently, is striving to break the ice after the
respective bids of Habibie and Megawati for the presidency led to
a rigid polarization of political allegiances. Aside from such a
likelihood, it must be admitted that Gus Dur is a politician who
is acceptable to many. Another point to remember is that our
Constitution does not provide for the direct election of a
president. What this implies is that anyone who meets the
requirements for becoming the nation's president has a right to
come forward and compete in the upcoming session of the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR).

In any case, as long as the constitutional provisions for
electing a president are not amended, the same tiring debate as
the one we are going through at present will always return to
plague us. This is all the more tiresome since our politicians
are not trained to enter into dialog in the quest to find a
compromise. And people like Gus Dur will always be present to
present us with riddles.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta