Received from Joyo Indonesian News

The Economist
cover dated February 1, 2001

Will Wahid be next?

A report on alleged presidential corruption is due in Indonesia next week

Jakarta,

HIS 15-month-old presidency may be fragile, but Abdurrahman Wahid still delights in taunting his enemies. On January 29th, a special parliamentary committee will report on two scandals that have plagued Mr Wahid since the middle of last year. The first involves the embezzlement of 35 billion rupiah ($3.7m) from a state agency; the second relates to $2m in 'donations' from
the sultan of Brunei. This week, after a long stand-off, Mr Wahid appeared before the 50 members of parliament who make up the committee and were eager to ask him some questions - but only to tell them that they had no business doing so.

There was no Javanese subtlety in Mr Wahid's message. The 60-year-old Muslim cleric bluntly accused his inquisitors of mixing law and politics, questioned their authority to interrogate him, and essentially dared them to impeach him. Many of his adversaries are itching to do just that, and they have been further emboldened this week by events in the Philippines.

In one way, Mr Wahid's foes believe they will have an easier time than their Filipino counterparts. Whereas Joseph Estrada entered his battle with a majority in the Senate, and was able to use it to frustrate the formal procedure, Mr Wahid's party commands only 10% of the seats in parliament, and many of the coalition members who originally backed him now regret their choice. Amien Rais, chairman of Indonesia's highest legislative body, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), has publicly asked forgiveness for
foisting Mr Wahid on the country. If they can get the ball rolling, his opponents believe, they will have enough votes to topple Mr Wahid in a special impeachment session later this year, without any need for the legally dubious steps that have just been taken in Manila.

However, the evidence against Mr Wahid so far - more may emerge next week - is much less damning than that against Mr Estrada. The Indonesian president flatly denies any involvement in a scandal at Bulog, the national food agency. It was discovered last May that the agency had transferred $3.7m to a Mr Suwondo (who, like many Indonesians, has only one name). Mr Suwondo, generally described as Mr Wahid's personal masseur - though he also has business and political links with the president - then absconded with the cash. The deputy head of Bulog, Mr Sapuan, had approved the transfer. When the scandal broke, he claimed he had handed over the money because the masseur had told him Mr Wahid had asked for it. Supposedly, it was to be used as humanitarian aid for the province of Aceh, where a secessionist revolt is under way.

Mr Sapuan has said that the masseur promised him the top job at Bulog in exchange for the transfer. But one obvious argument in Mr Wahid's favour has been apparent from the beginning: before the scandal broke, he had indeed appointed a new head of Bulog, and it was not Mr Sapuan. Mr Suwondo, and the others who had received payment, were eventually tracked down, and Mr Suwondo
has been interrogated. Efforts to show that the president approved his actions will feature prominently in next week's report.

The main facts of the other scandal are more firmly established: the president has already admitted to accepting $2m from the sultan of Brunei. He says that this (like the other sum in dispute) was to be used as humanitarian aid for Aceh. But there is no sign that the money actually arrived there, or that it is in the keeping of any government agency supposed to deal with the province. Much will depend on where the money actually went, not least because Mr Wahid has already been accused for months of blurring the line
between campaign finance and corruption, by lining his party's coffers with contributions from powerful tycoons. Mr Wahid has never deigned to be specific about what precisely he did with the sultan's money, so, at the least, he is guilty of a lack of the openness he is supposed to be trying to introduce.

In his efforts to head off impeachment hearings, Mr Wahid has shown little humility before parliament, further undermining Indonesians' efforts to make their leaders accountable. The president provoked a similar confrontation with parliament last year, when it tried to question him over the sacking of some coalition partners in his cabinet. Mr Wahid has consistently argued,
with strong constitutional backing, that he is accountable only to the MPR, which appointed him, and which combines parliament with representatives from the regions and various social groups.

As a result, many parliamentarians pushed last year to transform the annual MPR session into a special session to impeach the president. But the support of his vice-president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, helped stave off such a challenge. Her party is the largest in both parliament and the MPR; and if she were to decide to bring down Mr Wahid, few believe he could survive. Whether she decides to do it will depend partly on the evidence in next week’s report, and on how people react to it.

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Paul Barber
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign,
25 Plovers Way, Alton Hampshire GU34 2JJ
Tel/Fax: 01420 80153
Email: plovers@gn.apc.org
Internet: www.gn.apc.org/tapol
Defending victims of oppression in Indonesia and
East Timor, 1973-2000
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