Yang Razali Kassim, Jakarta – It was clearly not something which Indonesians have seen before. The tension and high drama began last Thursday when then President BJ Habibie presented his account of his leadership – the so-called "accountability speech".
The general expectation was for him to face a whipping. But Dr Habibie was quietly confident that he would pull through. His supporters in the Golkar party had done their sums and were expecting support for the incumbent, though with a thin margin.
The confidence was based on commitment made several days earlier within Golkar that the party would stick to backing Dr Habibie and nominating him for the presidency despite earlier threats of a review by the anti-Habibie wing. But Golkar chairman Akbar Tanjung secured a condition that the party could turn to alternative candidates at the eleventh hour if Dr Habibie's accountability speech was rejected.
Dr Habibie's men were suspicious of the Akbar camp, which included deputy chairman Marzuki Darusman. But they put the onus on him to stick to the commitment and work the ground to secure Dr Habibie's return to power.
While this was going on, Amien Rais' Central Axis of reformist and Islamic parties was crafting a plan of their own. The bloc's goal was to prevent Megawati Sukarnoputri, leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), from becoming president. But this would not necessarily mean supporting Dr Habibie. The strategy was to first secure the speakerships of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and the lower house (DPR), or parliament. A deal had to be done not only with Golkar but also with Abdurrahman Wahid, the leader of the influential Nahdatul Ulama (NU), to get the backing of his Nation Awakening Party (PKB).
Given the past rivalry, Dr Amien made the key move of patching up with Mr Abdurrahman or Gus Dur. Citing among other things the need to heal the wounds caused by the old rivalry between NU and Dr Amien's Muhammadiyah movement, Gus Dur was offered leadership of the Central Axis and promised support if he fought for the post of MPR Speaker. After some hesitation, Gus Dur agreed, but at a price of splitting the PKB's legislators and widening an incipient rift with Gus Dur's old ally, Ms Megawati. But an understanding was nevertheless sealed, pulling together the Central Axis, major elements of Golkar and PKB around Gus Dur. It was a pact that, with hindsight, was to later dramatically lead to Gus Dur taking the prized position of the country's presidency.
The big irony of it all is that the rise of Gus Dur to the presidency probably might not have happened had he succeeded in getting the MPR Speaker's post. As it was, he could not even get nominated for the contest. When that happened, Dr Amien had to step forward in his place. With the full backing of the Central Axis, PKB and Golkar, Dr Amien won the fight, albeit by a margin of just 26 votes. The person he beat was Gus Dur's proxy leader for the PKB, Matori Abdul Jalil, who refused to go along with Gus Dur's new alliance with Dr Amien, for which he was supported by Ms Megawati. With Dr Amien in that crucial seat, the next step was to back Mr Akbar for the post of DPR Speaker, which the Golkar chief also won quite easily.
With Gus Dur getting neither of the key posts, he was subsequently positioned as an alternative candidate for president, originally projected to be filled by the winner of a two-horse race between Dr Habibie and Ms Megawati.
On Tuesday night, a vote was taken on Dr Habibie's accountability speech. The results announced at around 1.30 am Wednesday (Singapore time) pointed to a rejection of his leadership by 33 votes.
That shocked the pro-Habibie supporters who had calculated a win by a slim margin. Anger built up against Mr Akbar and his deputy, Marzuki Darusman, who were accused of betrayal and failing to honour their commitment.
The votes that went against Dr Habibie, they charged, were swelled by defections. As the anti-Akbar sentiment welled up, resulting in protests in various parts in eastern Indonesia – a bastion of the pro-Habibie camp – Dr Habibie himself decided to withdraw his candidacy.
Within hours after the vote to reject his speech, Dr Habibie called for a meeting of Golkar leaders and ministers at his private residence. At about 1 am, Mr Akbar arrived, accompanied by Ginandjar Kartasasmita, now a deputy speaker of the MPR.
Dr Habibie announced his decision to withdraw, despite pressure from his supporters to go ahead. Dr Habibie then told Mr Akbar to offer himself as an alternative candidate and to take armed forces chief Gen Wiranto as his running mate. Mr Akbar agreed to put up his nomination but merely took note of Dr Habibie's mention of Gen Wiranto, who had two days earlier declared himself neutral to any nomination for the vice-presidency. At 9 am that morning, Dr Habibie called a press conference to announce his withdrawal. But Mr Akbar's own nomination for the presidential election failed to get through after pro-Habibie supporters kept going for his throat and threatened to sack him and Mr Marzuki.
The withdrawal of Dr Habibie and Mr Akbar left only two possible candidates – Ms Megawati and Gus Dur. But even on the night that Dr Habibie's speech was rejected, it was not clear yet if Gus Dur wanted to go ahead as a third candidate.
The prospect of Ms Megawati emerging as an uncontested president led to the Central Axis putting up a rank outsider, the leader of the Crescent and Star Party (PBB), Yusril Ihza Mahendra, as a new addition to the race. But he dramatically withdrew his candidacy just before the presidential election was declared open in the late Wednesday morning. The reason: Gus Dur had finally agreed to stand as president; it was a clever move to ensure a solid vote against Ms Megawati.
Gus Dur's candidacy stunned Ms Megawati, who knew he would be tough to beat. Indeed, it became tougher with the race now being a straight fight between her and Gus Dur following the withdrawal of Dr Yuzril.
As it turned out, the election became the high point in a long-drawn process of political change which began with the fall of President Suharto in May last year. Ms Megawati led in the first half of the race, sending many of Gus Dur supporters expecting a surprise defeat. But by the last stretch, it was Gus Dur all the way as the votes were counted till the end. Gus Dur was finally declared the winner – 373 votes to Ms Megawati's 313.
The outcome made Gus Dur only the fourth president Indonesia has in nearly half a century. The defeat of Ms Megawati, though quite expected by her supporters in the MPR, stunned them nonetheless.
The millions of pro-Mega sympathisers outside immediately went into a rioting frenzy, but they were not alone as pro-Habibie supporters in eastern Indonesia were also out in the streets, demanding a break-away from the country.
Gus Dur, now President Abdurrahman, knew his work was only beginning, and quickly made moves to accommodate all the competing power blocs, a priority which he made clear in his maiden speech on the night of Wednesday.
But his first strike was to appease the pro-Megawati groups. He quickly made it known to Ms Megawati, through a courier, that he would want her to run for vice-president. Ms Megawati, defeated again for the third time, was shattered, uncertain and unsure.
At 5am yesterday morning, she still couldn't be convinced. As BT understands it, when she finally turned around, she told the courier at 9am that she was pulling out. She was fearful of another defeat because Mr Akbar was going to be in the race, and that could be tough.
But in that very short time, President Abdurrahman passed yet another message which finally swung her again. According to a source close to both the President and Ms Megawati, the new Indonesian leader quickly informed three other contenders of his wish to have Ms Megawati as his vice-president, which they quickly obliged.
The first to agree to pull out was Hartarto, the coordinating minister for supervision. Then came the withdrawal of Mr Akbar. This was quickly followed by Gen Wiranto, who was put up by two factions.
The only one who refused to pull out, citing the need for democratic contest, was Hamzah Haz, a deputy speaker put up by the Central Axis.
In the morning, just before the vice-presidential contest was opened, Mr Akbar withdrew his candidacy. Just after that, a pro-Habibie legislator, Marwah Daud Ibrahim, called for a decision to have two vice-presidents to accommodate all parties. This was quickly countered by Mr Marzuki as not representing Golkar's official stand.
Dr Amien, the MPR Speaker, then read a statement by Gen Wiranto that he too was pulling out. That paved the way for a direct contest between Mr Hamzah and Ms Megawati, a fight that was expected to easily go the way of the PDIP leader. But before the election could proceed, Dr Amien called for a break to allow for the possibility of a last-minute consensus. There was none. In the end, when the election resumed four hours later, Ms Megawati romped home to a comfortable win that was clearly aimed at giving her a place in the new political constellation. By a vote of 396 to 284, she was declared the new vice-president of Indonesia. Mr Hamzah quickly congratulated her, as did many of her supporters. That same night, she was sworn in, completing the picture of a new leadership that hopefully will take Indonesia onto a long road of national reconciliation. There is much hope for a new beginning. But where it will lead to remains unclear.