Wahid's battle with parliament

English history might not be every Asian student's cup of tea, but it does have its uses. Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid might do well to dust off his set of Lord Macauley's and flip to the section on that old Stuart king, Charles I.

Mr. Wahid may have felt that it was time to display some toughness toward his political enemies, but defying Parliament in such a way was not the best choice of a method. It sounded a lot like the defense offered by Charles I when he was hauled before Parliament in 1649, days before he was beheaded.

Like Mr. Wahid, Charles I inherited a country in crisis. Although the English empire was adding to its possessions abroad, domestically all was not well. As in Indonesia today, the economy was depressed and religious strife rampant. Those factors, and Charles inability to impose order, all contributed to unrest in the remote regions of Scotland and Ireland, titularly under the king's rule.

Several Parliaments and civil wars later, and with an increasingly disaffected army and Protestant majority, Charles I was brought before the High Court of Justice, specifically convened to try the king for treason.

Throughout the trial, the Stuart king staunchly maintained that the parliamentary body had no business hauling him in -- that under the governing doctrine of divine right, Charles derived his authority from God and, as such, was not accountable to any temporal body. "I do stand more for the liberty of my subjects than any that come here to be my pretended judges," he famously declared. Whatever the merits of his defense, it didn't save his life. His execution in 1649 ushered in the Puritanical military regime of Oliver Cromwell, and 11 years of revolution and chaos.

Mr. Wahid is an elected leader who claims no divine rights, but it would be to his advantage to try to work with parliament, however difficult the politics of that might be. That body does, after all, represent the far reaches of his nation and few would deny that this complex society has some very serious problems. The Indonesian economy is moribund. Despite his pleas for tolerance, religious strife is growing. And from Aceh to the Malukus, the archipelago's fringe is fraying. So far Mr. Wahid's relaxed public persona has done little to assure the international community, much less his own countrymen, that things will improve.

Thankfully, Mr. Wahid has the benefit of historical hindsight and can choose another path than poor Charles. So when he goes before the country's highest legislative body, the People's Consultative Assembly, on Aug. 7 to explain his first year, he would be well-advised to try to give a thorough accounting of his administration rather than thumbing his nose at the legislators. The Indonesian president could indeed start by addressing the charges of corruption that have been directed at his cabinet, although a more important issue is whether he has a viable plan for restoring the country's economic growth.

The stakes are just as high as they were in 17th century England. Mr. Wahid has a difficult job made even more difficult by his political enemies. Yet he cannot afford to further alienate elected legislators. In Indonesia at present it is especially important that leaders keep their heads about them.

-- The Asian Wall Street Journal, Hong Kong