[anybody looked at Dan LaBotz' book on life in Indonesia after Suharto?]
Problems of Her Predecessor Face Indonesia's New Leader
By Rajiv Chandrasekaran Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, July 27, 2001; Page A21
JAKARTA, Indonesia, July 26 -- Three days after Indonesia's first-ever peaceful transfer of power and an unprecedented display of unity by the national assembly in electing her president, Megawati Sukarnoputri today began to confront many of the same contentious political forces that toppled her predecessor.
The national assembly made an unlikely choice for her deputy: the leader of a conservative Muslim party who had argued that women are not fit to be president. The bitterly divided assembly also gave strong support to the leader of a political party associated with former dictator Suharto, a result that effectively compels Megawati to give the party a sizable chunk of seats in her coalition cabinet if she wants to maintain good relations with parliament.
The former head of state, Abdurrahman Wahid, finally ended an awkward standoff by leaving the presidential palace, but he vowed to return to lead an opposition movement to Megawati's government.
And a judge who sentenced Suharto's youngest son to jail on graft charges was assassinated this morning as he was driving to work in a brazen daylight attack that signaled it will be difficult to pursue high-profile corruption cases.
"It looks like the honeymoon is over," said a Western diplomat here. "Now she is going to have to deal with the same political infighting -- and the same forces that do not want reform -- as Wahid did."
The new vice president, Hamzah Haz, is the leader of the country's third-largest political party, the Muslim-oriented United Development Party. In 1999, after Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle won the most votes in general elections, putting her in position to become president, Hamzah helped galvanize a Muslim alliance that opposed her because of her sex. His efforts resulted in Wahid's ascension to the presidency.
Hamzah, 61, has since moderated his views, arguing in recent months that Megawati was preferable to Wahid, who was accused of incompetence and corruption. Nevertheless, one legislator with Megawati's party said it could prove "a challenge for them to work together."
Although the vice presidency has been largely ceremonial in past administrations, analysts said Hamzah will be particularly powerful because of expectations that Megawati will not immerse herself in policy formation or day-to-day government operations.
He defeated five other candidates, among them Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a former army general who served as Wahid's top security minister, and Akbar Tandjung, the leader of the Golkar party, which served as Suharto's political machine. It took three rounds of voting before Hamzah was able to gain a majority.
Legislators said Tandjung's strong showing also poses a headache for Megawati, who wants to minimize the parliamentary opposition that helped lead to Wahid's downfall. Tandjung has demanded a large share of seats in her cabinet, giving his party greater control over policy. Without the seats, he has suggested, Golkar could emerge as a thorny opposition force.
Analysts said Hamzah, who had threatened to have his party boycott Megawati's cabinet if he did not win the vice presidency, could help her by preventing Muslim parties from undermining the new administration. "He gives her legitimacy among the Muslims," said Azyumardi Azra, the dean of the State University of Islamic Studies in Jakarta.
At the same time, Azyumardi said, Hamzah is not regarded as a fundamentalist who would push for radical religious policies. "He has fashioned himself as a conservative for political support, but he really is more of a moderate," Azyumardi said.
A few hours after Hamzah was elected, Wahid finally left the presidential palace, to travel to the United States for a medical examination. After leaving the sprawling grounds, where he had been holed up since the assembly voted on Monday to remove him, he stopped to speak to several thousand of his followers who had congregated outside, telling them he would "come back and continue fighting for democracy."
He said he would join forces with Megawati's estranged sister, Rachmawati, to push for democratic reforms. His close supporters said he has not ruled out a return to politics, although they said his first priority would be to set up a policy institute.
In an interview with a group of reporters earlier in the day, Wahid argued that Megawati's government would be controlled by military officials and unscrupulous business leaders.
"I am painting a gloomy picture," Wahid said in his office in the presidential palace.
"Indonesia will be looted," he said. "There will be no law, and human rights will be nowhere."
Megawati did not respond to Wahid's criticism. Her advisers have dismissed suggestions that she is too close to the military or Suharto-era forces of corruption.
"She may be more conservative, more piecemeal in her approach, but she is committed to democracy and human rights," said Subagio Anam, a legislator with Megawati's party.
Wahid, 60, a nearly blind Muslim cleric with progressive views, was regarded as a leader who would help smooth the country's stormy transition from dictatorship to democracy by attacking the culture of graft and human rights abuses that flourished under Suharto. But he proved to be erratic and antagonistic, picking fights with his allies and creating political problems for himself.
Earlier today, two men on motorcycles assassinated Judge Syafiuddin Kartasasita, who sentenced Suharto's son, Hutomo Mandala Putra, known informally as Tommy Suharto, to 18 months in jail for his role in a multimillion-dollar land scam.
Tommy Suharto is the only member of the family to have been convicted of a crime, but he disappeared in November after a warrant for his arrest was issued and he has not been seen in public since.
Anti-graft activists have expressed concern that Megawati would cease efforts to investigate and prosecute Suharto and his children for corruption. Megawati's husband, Taufik Kiemas, recently told a local magazine Suharto's family should not be made to face "this kind of suffering."