Susan Sim, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid's decision yesterday to avail himself again of the services of a savvy politician from Golkar – the party he is trying to dissolve – might be his one lucid move in the flurry of hit-and-run acts that have characterised his attempts to stay in power.

That he would reappoint the same man he sacked as Attorney-General to be his Cabinet Secretary, just two days after replacement Baharuddin Lopa died of a heart attack, is mystifying.

But more baffling is Mr Marzuki Darusman's motives for agreeing to be Gus Dur's chief gatekeeper. Mr Marzuki had in the last month turned down three offers to return to the Cabinet in the prestigious portfolios of Defence, Interior and Manpower.

But he has now accepted a position not much different from that of a glorified personal assistant, responsible for drafting and vetting presidential decrees and regulations and arranging Cabinet meetings.

However, that is just the technical job description. In Mr Marzuki's hands, the Cabinet Secretary or SesKab may be one of the most influential positions in a failing administration sorely in need of a master tactician and spin-meister. The SesKab can accrue power by floating names for appointments and by simply slowing down the decree-drafting process.

With a President lacking the eyesight to counter-check the decrees he signs and the administrative experience to fight his own bureaucratic battles, Mr Marzuki is literally the last line of defence.

Still, nobody expects Mr Marzuki to play mere bureaucratic games. "Since SesKab is not a technical department, but represents the President personally, Mr Marzuki may have a special mandate," an aide speculated.

And that mandate would likely be to intensify the search for a compromise to save Gus Dur's throne. Mr Marzuki never gave up his conviction that Gus Dur must be part of any solution to Indonesia's political morass.

But like most Golkar leaders, Mr Marzuki was also deeply concerned that the unthinkable might happen – a presidential decree to dissolve Mr Suharto's party on the grounds that it had violated fund-raising rules in the 1999 general election, leading to an invalidation of election results and a snap poll call.

Back in the saddle as SesKab, Mr Marzuki can pressure Gus Dur against such a move and thus earn a ride back into Golkar, after having irked its leaders for detaining one of them for alleged corruption.

At the same time, Mr Marzuki would be well-placed to either play a leading role in the next Gus Dur-Megawati government, or if that proves impossible, earn the Vice-President's gratitude by toning down Gus Dur's dirty-tricks department.