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Southeast Asia
Day of judgment for Wahid, and Indonesia
By Tony Allison
1. Day of judgment for Wahid
Embattled Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid appeared on national television on Tuesday to deny involvement in two corruption scandals as his defense minister warned the army might act to keep order if the political leaders did not end their squabbling and focus on running the country.
"All the information about the two cases is not true,'' Wahid said. "I am not involved." He rejected accusations that he had misused a US$2 million gift from the Sultan of Brunei, saying the money went to humanitarian groups doing relief work in Indonesia's war-ravaged province of Aceh. Wahid also dismissed suggestions he had helped embezzle $4 million from a government agency in what is known as the Buloggate scandal.
Wahid's television appearance came a day after police fired tear gas and warning shots at thousands of demonstrators outside the gates of parliament in the capital Jakarta, demanding the president resign because of the corruption allegations.
The demonstrations were the largest against Wahid since he took office in October 1999. They came as lawmakers met in a closed session to consider their response to the six-month investigation of a parliamentary sub-committee into the scandals. They are due to give their opinion on Thursday, when more demonstrations are expected. Jakarta was quiet early on Tuesday.
Defense Minister Mohammad Mahfud warned on Tuesday the armed forces could act independently of the government to maintain law and order if street protests escalate. Although he stressed there were no signs yet of a military takeover, the armed forces would step in to prevent anarchy and a break-up of the world's fourth most populous nation.
Leaked copies of the report conclude Wahid "abused his power" in both cases, but the evidence is tenuous and based heavily on circumstantial evidence. Investigators determined that although there were inconsistencies in Wahid's testimony, there was no clear evidence of "serious wrongdoing" by Indonesia's first democratically-elected president.
Wahid on Monday night threatened to suspend Parliament and call snap elections if legislators went too far, such as moving to impeach him, which they are capable of doing if they find the report indicates sufficient wrongdoing on his part. If legislators endorse the report, it could be the first step in a five-month process to unseat him. They could issue a censure memorandum, giving Wahid three months to respond. If he did not do so, parliament could then issue a second note and wait one month for his explanation. Failure to do so could trigger off calls for a special session of the MPR - the People's Consultative Assembly, Indonesia's highest law-making body - to begin impeachment proceedings.
Alternatively, parliament could simply rap Wahid over the knuckles without launching impeachment proceedings
The situation has similarities with the Philippines, where former president Joseph Estrada fell from power this month in the wake of stalled impeachment proceedings and popular demonstrations. However, Wahid still has the support of key politicians who would be reluctant to be seen pushing him from office. And crucially, the politically-powerful Vice President, Megawati Sukarnoputri, appears to still support him. The chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) continues to say publicly Wahid should be allowed to serve out his term until 2004.
Wahid is extremely popular with the many Muslim groups that form his base of support in the Nahdlatul Ulama, or NU, which draws its support from 30 million members in the rural areas of Java, Indonesia's main island.
The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) leaders know they would have a difficult time finding a suitable replacement for Wahid. Wahid was himself a compromise choice for president when the MPR could not unite behind either Megawati's PDI-P, currently the largest holder of seats in parliament, or Golkar, the unpopular former ruling party.
Megawati would face stiff opposition from Muslims who will not support a woman for president - the main reason that killed her chances the last time.
The political squabbles are distracting Wahid and other leaders from tackling a range of crises from communal fighting that has killed thousands, to separatist rebellions and economic woes.
The rupiah fell to 9,407.5 against the US dollar, down 42.5, on Tuesday, while the Jakarta stock market rose a modest 0.79 percent to close at 416.33.
In a further blow, the World Bank said on Monday it would cut its $1.2 billion aid program to Indonesia because it did not want to add to the country's high debt burden. The size of the cut will be decided in Washington soon and comes as Indonesia is struggling to secure fresh loans from the International Monetary Fund because of its poor progress in economic reforms.
Indonesia, still suffering badly from the financial crisis of the late 1990s, is one of the World Bank's biggest debtors, owing a total of $12.5 billion. Indonesia's total foreign debt came to about $140 billion by the end of September last year.
The bank said it was not happy with the government's progress on decentralization and feared newly-empowered districts and provinces were not ready to deal with financial matters. Indonesia's regional autonomy laws took effect on January 1 and aim to give the country's 30 provinces and more than 300 districts a greater say in running their affairs.
2. The charges
After intense lobbying, the House of Representatives plenary session on Monday received the report of a special House committee's investigation into two financial scandals involving the president, and officially dissolved the committee.
The report on the 35 billion rupiah ($3.9 million) scandal at the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) and a $2 million donation from the Sultan of Brunei, was handed over to the House leadership by chairman of the special 50-member parliamentary committee, Bachtiar Chamsyah, in a closed-door session. Wahid's supporters had tried to have the whole process declared illegal.
Leaked reports say that the committee found Wahid guilty of "abuse of power" in the so-called Buloggate and Bruneigate scandals after a six-month probe. But its 33-page report offered no new or conclusive proof that the president benefited personally from the two financial scandals.
The investigation team found evidence to suggest that Wahid was linked to one of the key suspects in the Buloggate scandal, even though the Indonesian leader has said otherwise. The Buloggate case centers on Wahid's masseur and one-time business partner, Suwondo, who allegedly used the president's name to cheat the government's main food agency, Bulog, into handing over $4 million from its employees' pension fund. Bulog officials say that months earlier Wahid had asked if the fund's money could be channeled into aid projects in Aceh, a province torn by separatist fighting.
Wahid has admitted he initially considered doing this, but later decided against it. Instead, he accepted $2 million from the ruler of neighboring oil-rich Brunei. His revelation led to allegations of a second scandal, dubbed Bruneigate, despite Wahid's insistence that the sultan's money was a donation for relief aid.
"It is hard to deny that the president has a very close relationship with Suwondo," the panel said in its 33-page report, which involved closed-door testimony by more than 20 people. The report said the masseur had played a role in fixing a meeting last year between the president and Salleh Sofyan, a senior Bulog official, to discuss the Bulog affair.
It noted: "It is odd that someone outside the presidential office can arrange such meetings. In his sworn testimony, Salleh himself admits that Suwondo had arranged a meeting with the president when he was on the run from the police." The report, however, makes no mention of whether Suwondo had siphoned off any funds.
The panel also said contradictions in testimonies by key suspects and Wahid strengthened its case. For example, it pointed out that the president had never been consistent in the amount that was taken from Bulog. It said that, in December 1999, the president told the then Trade and Industry Minister Jusuf Kalla that the amount was 100 billion rupiah. One month later, the figure increased by almost 85 percent. And in his testimony to Parliament in June last year, he mentioned 1.6 trillion rupiah.
The report said Wahid had "good intentions" in raising funds for humanitarian purposes in Aceh and other restive provinces. But there were questions as to why he had solicited the money without issuing a presidential decree.
Further doubts that the President was genuine in his motives were raised by the fact that the money was channeled to four individuals who had no links to the humanitarian assistance program in Aceh. The four, who included Suwondo's wife Teti Nursetiati, cashed checks in amounts ranging from 5 billion rupiah to 15 billion rupiah between January and March last year, the report said, adding that some might have used the funds for their own businesses.
3. Wahid profile
Abudarraham Wahid, elected Indonesia's fourth president in October 1999, took office after months of doubts over whether he would actually stand.
Wahid was elected for a five-year term ending in 2004, thanks to a last-minute shift of support from a Muslim coalition bent on preventing a woman - Megawati Sukarnoputri - from becoming leader of the world's largest Muslim-populated country.
The election of the influential Muslim cleric came as a shock to many after Megawati's PDI-P party had emerged as the winner of Indonesia's elections in June.
Wahid, or Gus Dur as he is also known, is one of the most well known figures in Indonesia. Educated in Indonesia, Egypt, Iraq and Canada, the frail 60-year-old has long had a reputation for religious tolerance and moderate politics. Nearly blind, he has suffered two strokes in recent years and had to be helped to the ballot box in the national assembly.
Wahid heads Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, the Nahdlatul Ulama, or NU, which draws its support of at least 30 million members from Muslims in the rural areas of Java, Indonesia's main island.
Wahid's position as a moral Muslim leader was transformed when he and his supporters formed the National Awakening Party, PKB, following the dramatic fall of president Suharto.
While the NU is a conservative religious organization, Wahid has consistently maintained that faith is a personal matter. In the unrest surrounding the fall of Suharto, some politicians made increasingly vocal calls for Islam to have an institutionalized role in the state. But such a move, Wahid believes, could spell the end of Indonesia, already troubled by ethic separatism and inter-religious tension.
His stance has brought him criticism from Islamic circles but earned him the respect of many non-Muslims throughout Indonesia, including the vast democracy's Christians and ethnic Chinese who he described as vital for the national economy.
Perhaps more significantly, he took office after forging links with the nation's highly influential military elite through his joint work with the head of the armed forces General Wiranto to ease ethnic tensions.
Wahid has had previous close ties with Megawati. In the run-up to the polls, she considered him one of her key allies, a man who could potentially deliver a huge Muslim following but who would be content to follow secular policies. During the campaign, he, Megawati and Amien Rais, Wahid's rival Muslim leader, brought their parties together in the name of safeguarding the reform and democracy process. But the joint front did not last, and Wahid later argued that a female president would offend conservative Muslims. Their friendship soured further as Wahid came to regard Megawati as arrogant and unable to work with other politicians as they sought to form a new government.
Economically, Wahid pledged during campaigning to implement reforms which the International Monetary Fund says are vital for the battered economy of 17,000 islands.
Wahid's most controversial moves in recent years have all been linked to the Suharto clan. In 1997, he campaigned with the former president's daughter during parliamentary elections. More recently, his conciliatory gestures towards Suharto angered those who supported reform.
Because of Wahid's espousal of religious tolerance, much of his support used to come from the Christian and Chinese communities. Now the forces aligned against him are using religion and ethnicity as weapons of destabilization. During the Chinese New Year, 8,000 troops had to be deployed after rumors of planned attacks on Chinese shops and homes in north Jakarta left the community on edge.
The Jakarta Christian Communication Forum has documented 175 Christian churches destroyed since Wahid took office in October 1999. In the Maluku Islands, after more than two years of fighting between Christians and Muslims that has left over 4,000 of both faiths dead, church officials are claiming that hundreds of Christians were forcibly converted to Islam and circumcised.
(Special to Asia Times Online)
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