The tasks ahead

Indonesia democratically elected a president for the first time in more than half a century on Wednesday, amid doubts of the country's immediate future and fears that the road of transition to democracy would prove to be a long and arduous one.

In a tension-laden vote count in the country's highest legislative body, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the Assembly named Abdurrahman Wahid, chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama Muslim organization, Indonesia's fourth president. Abdurrahman, a respected moderate Muslim leader who is widely known as a reformer and democrat, defeated the popular chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Megawati Soekarnoputri, 373 to 313.

Given the leaning toward mass violence which the country has demonstrated in the past couple of years, the vote-counting and election procedure can only be regarded as an example of democracy. As is customary in more advanced democracies, Megawati congratulated her victorious rival as soon as the result of the vote count was announced, and asked her supporters to understand and accept the tally. Her graceful acceptance of defeat and Abdurrahman's warm show of gratitude will certainly be valuable contributions to the building of democracy in Indonesia.

Not to be dismissed in this context is president B.J. Habibie's immediate withdrawal of his candidacy for the post as soon as the Assembly rejected his statement of accountability the evening before. Whatever one may say of Habibie's past policies, his action, too, helps establish a precedent for the healthy growth of democracy.

If any aspect of Wednesday's presidential election gives cause for concern, it is the apparent persistence of the potentially divisive "religious-versus-secular" argument, which seems to have been a factor in causing the forces adverse to a government led by Megawati to coalesce in what has come to be known as the axis force, a loose coalition of several smaller Muslim-based parties that caused her fall. It must be kept in mind that the axis force was instrumental in persuading Abdurrahman to stand for president.

Many analysts predicted during the run-up to the election that, in the current political constellation existing in Indonesia, the only way Megawati could lose was if she was pitted against Abdurrahman, since his candidacy would draw away the support of the National Awakening Party (PKB) which Abdurrahman helped establish. Many observers believe that in Wednesday's vote, Abdurrahman had the support not only of the axis force and PKB, but also of Golkar -- whose chairman Akbar Tandjung was said to be Abdurrahman's preferred choice of vice president -- as well as possibly the military and police faction.

Another noteworthy fact about the presidential election is that it has exposed at least one major flaw of the 1945 Constitution, which provides for the election of a president and vice president by a majority vote in the MPR, rather than by direct vote by the electorate. As Wednesday's procedure showed, this can create a major and potentially divisive discrepancy between the wishes of the people and those of the political elite. In this latest case, Megawati, whose party won the most votes in the June general election, has been left out of the power-sharing game, with potentially damaging implications for the nation. Wednesday evening's disturbances in Jakarta and elsewhere are a good illustration of the danger this presents.

In any case, so far it seems that the forces of reform are well on the way to gaining a solid upper hand over the status quo. However, the huge challenges that still lie ahead make it eminently clear that the new government cannot afford to rest on its newly won laurels. The first task it must pursue is to work toward true reconciliation among the various components of society, to restore stability and mend the economy. It would be disheartening at this stage to think of the possible repercussions that failure to accomplish this could have.

It remains to be seen how the people, the students -- and most important, the market -- will react to the new government. A no less important fact will be that Abdurrahman's government will have to answer for its policies to a legislature infused with new powers and dominated by Megawati's PDI Perjuangan. Hopefully, new President Abdurrahman will prove to be up to the task.