Anger erupts as Indonesian MPs opt for "liberal" Islam
On October 20, Abdurrahman Wahid, chairperson of the Muslim association Nahdlatul Ulama, was elected president of Indonesia, defeating Megawati Sukarnoputri, chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). Wahid defeated Megawati by 60 votes in the 700 member People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR).
Wahid’s election followed the rejection of former president B J Habibe’s "accountability" speech the previous day by the Assembly by a narrow majority of 33 votes. His party, the ruling Golkar decided to allow a free vote on the question after it became clear that the major papers of the Indonesian ruling class wanted to see him defeated.
Following this defeat, Habibe withdrew his nomination for President. Golkar did not in the end put forward another candidate for President though they made an initial nomination but withdrew it and decided instead to vote for Wahid.
Megawati’s PDI-P on the other hand had failed to make alliances with any other parties and did not have sufficient votes with only 153 deputies itself to secure a majority. Stunned Megawati supporters who had been on the streets already waiting to celebrate the expected victory of their leader began protesting and demanding her installation as President.
They highlighted the profoundly undemocratic nature of an electoral system in which the President is elected by 700 Assembly members rather than the population as a whole. Habibe himself had argued that in future there should be direct elections for the post and this was backed by other commentators.
The world’s leader’s and the world’s markets were worried. Would Megawati’s supporters continue to mobilise on a long term basis throwing into question the political and economic stability of this key country for the world international order? Or could a deal be done that would return people to their homes and allow order to return to the streets and stability to the stock markets?
One day later, Megawati was elected vice-president, but with only 322 out of 700 votes. Her opponent, Hamzah Haz, chairperson of the Muslim United Development Party (PPP) and also a member of Nahdlatul Ulama, gained 180 votes; almost 200 MPs abstained.
Wahid took Nahdlatul Ulama out of the Suharto’s PPP in the mid-1980s and distanced NU from the Suharto regime. For almost a decade, Wahid cultivated the image of a liberal democrat, developing links with Western academics and NGOs.
In 1990 he accepted the position of chair of the Democratic Forum, a loose talk shop of intellectuals loosely associated with the defunct Socialist Party of Indonesia, a conservative social democratic institution. The Democratic Forum remained inactive and ineffectual.
At the same time, Wahid developed close relations with individual generals. He also cultivated a posture of supporting a more liberal, tolerant Islam. He advocated a de-Islamisation of daily language and ceremonial activity.
However, the NU remained a bastion of medieval religious practice; rote learning, obedience to the mullah and the cruder forms of superstition remain dominant.
His reputation as a liberal, especially among democracy movement activists, began to plummet in mid-1996, when the anti-dictatorship struggle began to turn militant. He urged Megawati’s PDI-P not to take a confrontational stance against Suharto after the dictatorship deposed her as head of the PDI.
As anti-Suharto sentiment gathered momentum in the period before the May 1997 elections, Wahid actively campaigned for Golkar. He became the personal escort and champion of Indonesia’s most corrupt politician, Suharto’s daughter, Tutut.
In May 1998, when the student mobilisations were near to bringing Suharto down, Wahid sat beside Suharto in the presidential palace as the dictator tried to sell himself as a leader who could implement reform.
When the anti-dictatorship movement was at its height, he spent most of his time lending legitimacy to the old order. It became increasingly obvious that he was primarily motivated by a fear of "people’s power". He was seeking a smooth transition to a post-Suharto period which would not threaten a political order that kept the masses out of politics.
Despite Megawati’s election as vice-president it is clear that the new government remains in the Suharto mould. Megawati herself should not been seen as a radical despite her huge popular support - at one point she argued against acceptance of the referendum vote for independence in East Timor - though she later withdrew on this.
Whether this government will be able to fulfil the aspirations of the Indonesian people and at the same time deliver the stability demanded by the powers in Washington and Canberra remains to be seen.
In the meantime the people of East Timor are celebrating the return of leader Xanana Gusmao. Some of the remaining 1500 occupying Indonesian troops (TNI) have begun to prepare for departure.
Most of the pro-independence leaders and activists have been able to return to open political activity. The National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT) is about to open its office. Fretilin, a member organisation of CNRT, is planning a major reunion congress in early December. The Timorese Socialist Party (PST) has also opened its offices.
However it seems that elections may not take place for 2-3 years, during which time the country will remain a colony – of the UN rather than of Indonesia. The lessons of Northern Iraq, Bosnia and Kosova make clear that this is a fate that will become increasingly problematic for the population.