Violence Fears Stall Megawati Power Play
The Age
Tuesday May 22, 2001
JAKARTA
Indonesia's Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri is ready to oust besieged President Abdurrahman Wahid but fears the move would trigger violence, one of her key party members said yesterday.
As tensions mounted in the political crisis, Mrs Megawati made a veiled attack on Mr Wahid's leadership, warning that Indonesia would become the ``sickest man" in Asia if it could not solve its problems.
Meilono Suwondo, the deputy chairman of Mrs Megawati's parliamentary faction, told The Age that it had become clear that she would not oppose parliament impeaching Mr Wahid, the country's first democratically elected leader.
But Mr Meilono said Mrs Megawati preferred to keep quiet because of fears that millions of her supporters would react strongly to support her. ``It is very possible for a harsh conflict between people at the grassroots level if their leaders are involved in a fight," he said.
Under the constitution, only Mrs Megawati can replace Mr Wahid before elections that are not scheduled until 2004.
Increasingly isolated and refusing demands for his resignation, Mr Wahid has warned of violence by his supporters in the 40million-strong Muslim organisation Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) if he is impeached by a special session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the top legislature.
Parliament is scheduled to meet tomorrow week to decide whether to call the session, which could be held in July or August.
Military commanders have rejected an attempt by Mr Wahid to declare a state of emergency and dissolve parliament. Mr Wahid prompted a flurry of high-level emergency talks at the weekend when reports swept Jakarta that he intended to sack the officers for rejecting his request.
In an interview published yesterday in Tempo magazine, the army chief, General Endriartono Sutarto, was quoted as saying that if Mr Wahid persisted with his reported plans, ``we will no longer help him".
``What I understand is he wants a special MPR session stopped," he said. ``If this cannot be stopped with appeals, there will be other efforts, let's say using force, by dissolving or freezing parliament."
Amid the crisis, tensions are rising between rival political and religious groups. Observers fear clashes between NU members and those from Muhammadiyah, a rival Muslim organisation once headed by MPR speaker Amien Rais, one of Mr Wahid's fiercest critics.
Observers also fear clashes between supporters of Mr Wahid and Mrs Megawati. The two have been friends for most of their lives.
The offices and homes of several rival political groups have been burnt down in towns across Java in the past few days - including the headquarters of Mrs Mega-wati's party in Malang, where thousands of her supporters rallied on Sunday.
Mrs Megawati has remained largely silent in the crisis, but yesterday she used a speech to a military think tank to launch a veiled attack on Mr Wahid.
While not naming Mr Wahid, Mrs Megawati said Indonesia must move on from being an authoritarian state in which power was in the hands of one to a democracy that put the welfare of the people first.
``In this new vision, the benchmark of the success of a leader is no longer measured by how big the power he had gathered but on how his power can benefit the people," she said.
``The base of his legitimacy is not linked to that person or his own power, but on the people's acceptance of that person and on the performance in implementing what has been mandated."
In separate comments, Mrs Megawati was quoted by the secretary-general of her party, Sucipto, as saying that unnamed people had taken advantage of Mr Wahid's weaknesses.
He said she also complained that Mr Wahid would not listen when she warned that people were taking advantage of him. ``I keep shouting `don't do that, don't do that'," Mrs Megawati was quoted as saying. ``I've warned (Mr Wahid) many times, but he never listened."
Meanwhile, a readers' poll conducted by Media Indonesia newspaper found that former dictator Suharto was considered a better leader than Mr Wahid.
OPINION 14: Editorial
© 2001 The Age
Share This