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Wahid To Resign If Proven Constitutionally Wrong
by Kazi Mahmood
KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 (IslamOnline) - Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid will resign only if he is proven wrong under the constitution said his Minister of Defense, Mahfud M D, on Wednesday.
While Wahid concentrated on daily duties and regular naps, some of which last a few hours, officials were finalizing his response to Parliament in response to the first censure motion of February 1st that implicated him in two graft scandals.
Wahid and his entourage say that the defense minister will deliver the response in a speech to legislators that will reiterate Wahid's contention that the censure is illegal since he has not been found guilty in a court of law.
Parliamentarians scoffed at the assertion and said they would proceed with a second censure motion while local media and Indonesians continued to be perplexed over Wahid's fate.
Wahid is said to be thinking of resigning if legislators were to force a second censure motion, an act that would be considered a blow to his presidency.
Indications that the military will side with parliamentarians if the legislature decides to impeach Wahid and crack down on his "Suicide gangs" were not welcome news.
Legislators from top political parties submitted a draft memorandum to the House leadership to censure the President for failing to take their earlier rebuke more seriously.
In simple terms this means formal impeachment and a forced resignation one observer in Singapore told IslamOnline.
He said the statement by Mahfud that Wahid was prepared to step down if ordered by the Parliament was indicative of the mood of the president.
Mahfud added however, that the president will do so only if found guilty along constitutional lines.
Observers say that recent positions adopted by Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who missed the peace talks between warring factions in Central Kalimantan and was not present at the swearing-in ceremony of the new forestry Minister last week, had struck Wahid.
"He knows he is now isolated, Bansers or not, from the Nladhatul Ulama (NU). He does not have much political life left" IslamOnline was told.
Pro- and anti-Wahid groups have ended all demonstrations and entered a waiting phase, expecting the President to either resign or stay on.
The media constantly repeated phrases Mahfud spat to journalists, who comment that if Wahid will not object to resigning, then the country may have found a solution.
Most editors and journalists, as well anti-Wahid demonstrators, said they hoped he resigns before the situation in the country becomes more untenable and confusing.
Contacted by IslamOnline to clarify the situation, Muhammad Isa Selamat said he still did not see any sign that Wahid will resign. "He should resign. Now is the time. However I am afraid he is not resigning.
"The presidential palace has said he will not resign, while his minister of defense says he might resign. This means Wahid has gone back to the old political games he played with Wiranto.
"He said he would not revoke Wiranto, but a day later Wiranto was asked politely to resign. When he failed to do so, Wahid congratulated him for staying on but afterwards issued the famous revocation letter," Selamat said.
Though the second censure memorandum, which legislators expect to issue before the end of next week, paves the way for an impeachment session of the People's Consultative Assembly by June, experts say Wahid might still fight.
A no-resignation stance by Wahid would mean that reformasi in Indonesia might come to naught as the embattled President seems to be pondering on new regulations that might help him tighten his grip on power, IslamOnline was told.
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