Sangwon Suh and Dewi Loveard, Jakarta – After two weeks of tense standoff, it was over. Late on Sunday, February 13, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid finally carried out what he had been promising to do: remove Gen. Wiranto, coordinating minister for security and political affairs, from his cabinet. The announcement was received with surprising grace and composure by Wiranto. No tanks appeared in the streets, and the stock market remained calm. The world let out a collective sigh of relief. Indonesia's democracy appeared safe, at least for now.

The confrontation between the two men began on January 31, when the National Human Rights Commission released a report implicating a number of military officials, including Wiranto, in the East Timor violence last year. Wahid, who was in Europe at the time, called on the general to step down. Wiranto refused, saying there was no evidence to support the commission's conclusions.

As Wahid made his way through Europe, he reiterated his call for Wiranto's resignation, but the general steadfastly declined to budge. All the while, Indonesians and the international community watched the long-distance standoff with growing unease. If Wiranto prevailed, it would be a blow to the four-month-old civilian government, a sign that the president could not control the military. If Wahid prevailed, then who knew how the former armed-forces chief and his hardline supporters would react?

Wahid returned to Indonesia on February 13 for what would be a final showdown. He immediately called a meeting with Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri, Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman and Wiranto at the presidential palace. According to sources in the palace, Wiranto insisted that his case should be first investigated by the attorney-general's office; he charged that the commission's report was more a "political phenomenon than law." Darusman, who is also chairman of the commission, countered that it would be difficult to carry out an impartial probe while Wiranto was still in office. "Our investigators would feel reluctant to investigate such a high-ranking officer," he later told Asiaweek.

Unable to sway Wiranto, Wahid announced afterwards that the coordinating minister would remain in his post. It was a blow, it seemed, to the president and to Indonesia's reformist forces, and on Monday morning newspaper headlines around the region trumpeted this setback. But even before the papers came out, Wahid had already made a dramatic U-turn. That Sunday night, he summoned Megawati (who was at a restaurant at the time and had to leave with her food in take-away bags). After conferring with her, Wahid made his decision: Wiranto would be suspended from the cabinet until a final verdict on his East Timor role came out. The news, formally announced the next morning, took everyone, including Wiranto, by surprise.

Later that day, Wiranto attended the swearing-in ceremony of his replacement, Home Affairs Minister Surjadi Sudirja. Wiranto was not accompanied by his wife. A source from the general's office explained: "His wife is still shocked, since the family was only told of the news at 6am, after they had finished their morning prayers." At the ceremony, Wiranto's colleagues tried to relieve the tension by giving him hugs and hearty handshakes.

There were grumblings from hardline elements in the military over the latest development. "Gus Dur [Wahid's nickname] has gone too far," complains one active general. "I hope this is the last time he causes the military to lose face in public; otherwise we're afraid we will have to take some action to restore our dignity." For the time being, though, Wiranto's removal seems to have happened without much fuss. Wiranto himself greeted the suspension with equanimity, saying it was within the president's power to make such a decision.

"This is a task that is given by God, by the government and by the nation," he said. "If the confidence is not there anymore, I am ready to accept that I have to stand down."

How did Wahid manage to defuse the situation without triggering a crisis? First, he took care to make the pill easier to swallow for Wiranto. By suspending him, rather than sacking him outright, the cleric-turned-president enabled Wiranto to save some face and also left the door open for the general's return, should he be exonerated of any crimes. Wiranto's successor Surjadi underlined this point when he was being sworn in. "I only serve this position until there is a conclusion about Wiranto's position," he said. "If within one month he is proven not guilty, I will give it back to him."

Another factor is the sheer support that Wahid commands, both inside and outside the country. The US repeatedly warned would-be conspirators in the military not to harbor any ideas of a coup. Wahid's recent overseas tour served to cement his standing among world leaders, a point underscored by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's visit to Indonesia on February 14. It was also clear that any coup would come at a heavy economic price, as foreign investors would pull out at the first sign of political uncertainty. Wiranto himself said as much after his suspension: "Without my standing down, it would be difficult to invite foreign investors to put their money in Indonesia."

Domestically, too, Wahid's standing is unassailable. As the country's first democratically elected leader in decades, he remains popular among ordinary Indonesians. Equally significant, the armed forces are behind him; they reaffirmed their support for the president after Wiranto's removal. The latter is at least partly Wahid's doing. Over the months, he slowly whittled away at Wiranto's power base, removing the general's supporters from key positions and replacing them with reformist officers. Thus, says a two-star general, Wiranto never had a chance to mobilize his power within the military. "I can assure you that no action is underway following the announcement," he says. "This crude but brilliant president has been able to unscrew most of the bolts of Wiranto's machine."

The final key to Wahid's success is his modus operandi. Both his critics and his followers have complained that his intentions can be very difficult to fathom, given his penchant for making confusing, even contradictory, statements. This tendency was not absent during the standoff. Throughout his Europe tour, Wahid's message was consistent: Wiranto had to go. But at times he made conciliatory noises, causing observers to think he was backtracking. One moment, he was saying he would remove Wiranto as soon as he got back; next, he was crediting the general with saving him and Megawati from an assassination plot a few years ago. Such seeming changes of heart confounded his European hosts – and no doubt kept his enemies wrongfooted (as did his complete flip-flop after his return to Jakarta).

This approach has led many to wonder if the apparent madness in the method is deliberate or if he is fumbling around aimlessly. Brilliance or just dumb luck? Sometimes, it is hard to tell. But whatever it is, it seems to be working – for now.