APSN Banner

After Gus Dur's apology, what next

Source
Straits Times - July 24, 2000

Jakarta – Call it hubris, denial or sheer pragmatism. But among President Abdurrahman Wahid's inner circles, the burning question of the moment is not how long he can survive, but if he will sack Cabinet Secretary Marsilam Simanjuntak.

The perceptive also want to know: Will he name Mines Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyuno as his Prime Minister in a Cabinet reshuffle after next month's session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)?

For it was the straight-talking Mr Marsilam, hitherto one of his most trusted aides, who drafted his disastrous speech to Parliament last Thursday. And the cautious Lt-General Bambang who lobbied others to help persuade the President to issue an apology the next evening.

If nothing else, last week's sorry mess should have impressed upon the leader the paramount importance of having good, politically savvy advisers and a chief of staff who can keep everyone in line as well as maintain good ties with the other organs of state. Lesson Two: If you have betrayed every deal you made with the politicians consistently, then do not expect them to hold true to their word either.

For all his disdain of the legislators, Mr Abdurrahman took their summons to account for his April sacking of two ministers so personally that he did not involve any of his ministers in the drafting process, not even his official constitutional advisers, Law Minister Yusril Mahendra and Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman.

They, after all, belong to the political parties which voted to hold Thursday's grilling by Parliament. So Mr Marsilam obtained no political input on an issue which required some nifty political spinning more than it did the refuge of a patchy Constitution.

At the same time, the President was so confident he had a deal with Parliament Speaker Akbar Tandjung that he told Cabinet on Wednesday that he would be able to waltz out immediately after Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri read out his speech.

Concerned by his cavalier attitude, five ministers buttonholed Mr Marsilam to grill him on the content. Only one was from the President's Nation Awakening Party (PKB) – the little-known and little-heard-about Tourism Minister Hidayat Jaelani. The other four were non-party members but well-liked heavy-hitters, including Mr Bambang and Interior Minister Suryadi Sudirdja.

Appalled to learn that the President intended to hide behind the Constitution, they sought to persuade the Cabinet Secretary to drop that defence, only to be told, "It's too late, the speech has been submitted to Parliament". Not surprisingly, Ms Megawati, who had then not yet seen the speech, too declined to read it on the President's behalf. When Mr Suryadi also refused, the task fell on State Secretary Djohan Effendi.

Yet when Mr Akbar allowed angry legislators to attack the President, turning what should have been a short ceremony into four hours of haranguing, Ms Megawati rallied round. In a discussion with Mr Bambang and another minister, she agreed they should persuade the leader, known popularly as Gus Dur, to change his tune.

And so the lobbying began, culminating in Friday's apology. Ironically, Mr Bambang might have scored brownie points with Mr Abdurrahman at Ms Megawati's expense. For some weeks now, the President has been toying with the idea of appointing a First Minister, or Premier, to run his government while he continues to play visionary.

He has even named two possibilities in meetings with American envoy to Jakarta, Mr Robert Gelbard, sources said. Mr Gelbard has lost no time in making known he thinks current Indonesian Ambassador to Washington Dorojatun Kuntjorojakti, would be a better choice. The latter is, afterall, an economist with contacts in Washington while Mr Bambang cannot escape the fact he is a general, even if he is due to retire in October.

Whoever is chosen assumes the post at the expense of Ms Megawati, who will not only not get the experience she needs, but might even find her duties as ceremonial proxy eclipsed. And here again, Mr Abdurrahman shows that while he might suffer temporary setbacks, he will always stay true to his strategy – which is to deny his opponents a better substitute for himself.

Country