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Lawmakers call again for Gus Dur to quit

Source
Straits Times - November 13, 2000 (slightly abridged)

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesia's embattled leader has suffered another attack on his presidency when lawmakers called on Mr Abdurrahman Wahid to resign, blaming him for the country's economic woes, and the separatist and ethnic violence rocking the country.

An informal gathering of legislators on Saturday ended with many of them either demanding his resignation or vowing to push for a special session of Parliament. "The meeting was given clear evidence that economic recovery has been hampered by the President," said Mr Djoko Susilo from the Islamic Reform faction.

He was referring to ex-Economic Minister Kwik Gian Gie's contention that Indonesia's economic woes were due to the President's weak leadership. "It's like we're caught riding in a taxi with a reckless driver," Mr Djoko said. "What we need to do is stop the taxi and get rid of the driver."

However, the calls for Mr Abdurrahman's resignation were not formal calls and were not made universally by all the parties. While Mr Djoko said the Reform faction has agreed to call for his resignation, the two major factions in the Lower House – Vice-President Megawati's PDI-P party and the Golkar party – stopped short of doing so.

Even as individual Golkar members joined the chorus of criticism at Saturday's event, significantly neither Golkar party chief Akbar Tandjung, Ms Megawati nor the military faction attended the conference.

President Director of Vickers Ballers and financial analyst David Chang however dismissed the criticism of the new Cabinet's economic performance as premature. A lot of the criticisms of Mr Abdurrahman's leadership were based on personal animosity and political rivalry, he said.

However, he added that analysts expected "more volatility in the market because this bickering will continue. Gus Dur has a lot of opponents now," he said, referring to the President by his nickname.

PDI-P faction leader Sophan Sophian said PDI-P still supported the President and that Ms Megawati did not want to use a special session to attempt to impeach the President. Ms Megawati two weeks ago lashed out at the President's parliamentary opponents, asking what solutions these opponents had for Indonesia's problems. She said that this year's parliamentary session was a waste of time and only contributed to the political intrigue.

The legislators' call, backed by political opponents who have consistently attacked Mr Abdurrahman since early this year, comes amid growing criticism of his leadership and inability to turn Indonesia's economy around.

Reform members and some Golkar members expect that Mr Abdurrahman will still gain all the major parties' support when they reveal the details of the President's alleged involvement in the Buloggate and Bruneigate scandals.

"There's a strong indication that the President was involved and is guilty of violating his oath in office," claimed Mr Djoko, who added that the parliamentary team investigating both cases will present their findings in two weeks.

Mr Abdurrahman who is currently in Qatar attending the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, has denied any improper dealings and has refused to personally attend a summons by the committee. A key suspect in the case, Alip Agung Suwondo, has also said that the President had no knowledge of the financial swindle.

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