Tom McCawley – A patter of applause from the floor of the 700- member People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) greeted the appointment this week by Abdurrahman Wahid, Indonesian president, of Megawati Sukarnoputri to manage the day-to-day affairs of the cabinet.
Many of the faction leaders, irate at Mr Wahid's aloof management style during his 10-month rule, felt they had scored a victory by forcing the president to hand over to the populist vice-president. Yet Mr Wahid, famous for his political agility, has been able to turn a defeat into a strategic withdrawal.
By appointing the inexperienced and untested Mrs Megawati to handle Indonesia's many crises, Mr Wahid has managed to preserve his hold over the presidency – though he may have weakened the office itself.
The scope of Mrs Megawati's new appointment is still the subject of heated debate in party backrooms at Indonesia's parliament. Just how much autonomy she will be given has not been made clear. Mr Wahid has made it clear that he will retain final say over many decisions under Indonesia's 1945 wartime constitution, which grants wide-ranging power to the executive.
"Gus Dur [Mr Wahid's nickname] has given her the head, but kept his finger on the tail," said Eros Djarot, a former adviser close to Mrs Megawati. In passing on some powers, Mr Wahid has managed to take the sting out of the myriad criticisms levelled at him.
"Abdurrahman Wahid is showing his true colours as a democrat," says Bondan Gunawan, former cabinet secretary and friend of the president. After much criticism from parliament, which makes up over two-thirds of the MPR, pressure was growing in the rank and file of many of the parties in Mr Wahid's coalition to move towards impeaching the president or curbing his powers.
Mr Wahid, whose party controls only about 10 per cent of the MPR, rules with the help of a shaky coalition of parties, including nationalists, Muslims, and Suharto-era appointees.
Tensions between Mr Wahid and several rival parties reached a peak on Monday night when leaders rejected the president's proposal to appoint his choice as chief minister in charge of running the cabinet.
Mr Wahid was cornered. The two largest parties in the MPR, Mrs Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P), and Golkar, linked with former president Suharto, and five minor ones urged him to pass on more powers to the vice-president.
Mr Wahid can now claim to have bowed to the wishes of the legislature, while maintaining his hold on office. Meanwhile, Mrs Megawati has been given responsibility for solving Indonesia's many crises, including steering the country to economic recovery and quelling regional rebellions.
Although she has been active in politics since 1987, Mrs Megawati's critics claim her main qualification is her pedigree as daughter of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno. Her years spent as florist and homemaker are prominent in her resume.
Muslim parties who opposed her nomination as president in October 1999 accuse her of being aloof and inarticulate with little intellectual grasp over policy. Indeed, her views on many policy issues are little known as she often refuses to speak to the media. Many senior PDI-P members say that as de facto head of government Mrs Megawati's role would be to provide a strong mantle of legitimacy.
Aides also say she understands the importance of delegating tasks in areas in which she is weak. "But whatever my failings are, they are surely better than this," she told friends recently, referring to Mr Wahid's cabinet management.
The promised cabinet reshuffle, and the respective influences of Mr Wahid and Mrs Megawati, is of crucial importance. "Can she appoint a professional team, or will she give the jobs to cronies?" says Andy Mallarengeng, a political scientist. Both Mr Wahid and Mrs Megawati have agreed in principle to ministers selected as managers or economists rather than for party allegiances.
Financial markets have initially welcomed the news of a political accord and a possible end to cabinet bickering. But the new appointment has not changed the political landscape of Indonesia's parliament and number of parties competing for influence and ministerial portfolios.
Some Megawati aides fear she will be caught between the president, and the Golkar party whom she relies on to defy Mr Wahid. These questions will dominate the final week of this session of the MPR, which finishes next Friday. "The game has only just begun," says Mr Djarot. "That is Gus Dur's cleverness."