Wake up call for Indonesia's President Abdurrahman
Wake up call for Indonesia's President Abdurrahman
NEW DELHI: It's true that Abdurrahman Wahid took on the
challenge of being Indonesia's first elected President in four
decades in a bit of a mess.
In July this year, government auditors came up with the
revelation that 46 percent of the country's state funds, roughly
11 times the amount promised by the IMF, had vanished without a
trace, during the 1998-1999 fiscal year. Abdurrahman was not then in
charge and, therefore, is not being blamed.
But neither his management of the economy, nor the pursuit of
offenders has left the country's parliament satisfied. He got
into a major row with the House of Representatives over the
sacking of the State Enterprise and Trade and Industry ministers,
when he said that the law empowering the House to summon him for
an explanation was ultra vires the 1945 constitution.
He later apologized and then kicked up a fresh row when he
said that he would be pursuing some important legislators for
aiding and abetting sectarian and separatist violence.
It is known that relations between him and Amien Rais,
Chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly, which has the
power to remove him, are not good and commentators read a strong
political message to the latter.
By all accounts, Abdurrahman hasn't been a very effective president,
a fact he himself partially acknowledged when he handed over what
he called "daily technical duties" to Vice-President Megawati
Soekarnoputri.
He is almost blind and his concentration is often under
stress. The Assembly now has some ammunition on him: a Rp 35
billion diversion from the state food agency and a US$2 billion
gift from the Sultan of Brunei.
If not handled properly, this can lead to impeachment.
Parliament has already deputed 50 legislators to investigate the
two scandals. Abdurrahman took some of the pressure off when he made a
conciliatory speech before the Assembly in August, but if he
doesn't show results in the economy soon, these threats may
crystallize.
All ministers handling the economy resigned, new faces were
inducted, but the Jakarta stock exchange refused to respond.
Earlier, the central bank governor and the government's principal
intermediary with the IMF were also sacked by Abdurrahman for reasons
having to do with reducing the influence of Megawati's PDI-P in
the government.
Abdurrahman gives the impression of not having a grip on his
government and often seems puzzled by his own authority. He looks
increasingly as though he can't run the country.
-- The Statesman / Asia News Network