BY MAX LANE
In an escalation of tensions between President Abdurrahman Wahid and right-wing forces in the country's parliament, a full session of the DPR, the Indonesian house of representatives, voted almost unanimously on February 2 to accept a special committee report concluding that the president was "involved" in two financial scandals.
The report said Wahid was involved in the release and use of funds from the national food agency, BULOG, and in the receipt, outside official channels, of monies from the Sultan of Brunei for humanitarian use in Aceh. The report did not accuse Wahid of personal receipt or use of any of the funds but rather of using improper administrative methods, thereby allowing close associates to improperly use some of the money, amounting to thousands of dollars.
The National Awakening Party (PKB), which is linked to Wahid, walked out of the DPR during the vote, claiming that the special committee had violated several parliamentary rules.
The same evening the parliament voted to send a memorandum to the president warning him over his transgressions. The decision came despite statements from prominent Wahid opponent Amien Rais calling for tougher action, including a special session of the MPR, the People's Consultative Assembly, the only body with the power to withdraw Wahid's mandate as president.
The special committee to investigate Wahid was established by an alliance of the Muslim right-wing Central Axis, which includes MPR chairperson Rais, and Golkar, the party of former dictator Suharto, as part of a concerted campaign to undermine Wahid and prepare the ground for his removal by the MPR.
At the same time as pursuing the president, Golkar and the Central Axis have blocked investigations into the billion dollar scandals at the Bank Bali and the improper release and use of bank recapitalisation funds, scandals which have implicated their members and supporters in Indonesia's elite.
Within the parliament, this campaign has received the tacit support of vice-president Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) and the Armed Forces/Police Fraction. Both the PDIP and the military fraction voted for the memorandum to be sent to Wahid.
Sukarnoputri's short-term intentions remain unclear, however — it seems that it was her continued public support for Wahid that blocked any moves towards a special session being called.
While a special session is now unlikely to be called any time soon, the assembly's regular annual session is scheduled for November. It appears likely that Golkar and the Central Axis are preparing for a move against Wahid at that time.
Student right mobilises
While parliamentarians deliberated on the special committee report, anti-Wahid groups staged demonstrations outside the parliament and the presidential palace. Protester numbers peaked at 15,000 on January 29 and 10,000 on February 2.
These demonstrations were organised by the Student Executive Bodies, the BEMs, from several universities in Java and Sumatra. These formal student representative bodies have been dominated by the Muslim right wing since before the fall of Suharto.
Most of the student groups which mobilised are connected to the Islamic Student Associations, the HMI, or to organisations connected to the small but well-organised Islamic fundamentalist Justice Party.
Both these networks are part of the Central Axis. There have also been consistent reports that these student groups have received funds from individuals linked to Golkar.
These are not the same students whose demonstrations forced Suharto's resignation in May 1998, but are rather those who mobilised in support of Suharto's chosen successor, BJ Habibie, in May and November 1998.
Wahid has been constrained in responding to the manoeuvres against him. Although there is so far no evidence of corrupt personal enrichment by Wahid, his willingness to wheel and deal with all kinds of shady characters, as well as to appoint his relatives to various troubleshooting jobs in government, leaves him open to attack.
Wahid has also consistently opposed any initiatives by his own supporters to mobilise in his defence and is relying solely on his ability to outmanoeuvre and trick his right-wing opponents. As a result, he has continually retreated on promises of greater political reform, thereby undermining the possibilities of building a democratic coalition.
During the last week, even the president's room to manoeuvre has been restricted, as PDIP members in the parliament have lined up with Golkar, the Central Axis parties and the military fraction. His chief ploy has been to call a cabinet meeting, including Sukarnoputri, to provide a display of unity.
The DPR, through its speaker, Golkar chairperson Akbar Tanjung, will send the reprimand memorandum to Wahid in the next few weeks. Wahid will be expected to respond.
At the same time, the DPR will send the attorney-general, former Golkar head Marzuki Darusman, its assessment of where Wahid has broken the law, on the expectation that he will be prosecuted in court.
Both these processes will provide opportunities for more mainstream media attacks on Wahid, as well as for mobilisations by the student right.
Democratic forces disunited
Actions called by forces opposed to Golkar, the military and the Central Axis on January 29 and February 2 were smaller overall than those of the student right, partly because of a lack of the common platform needed for them to call on wider public support.
The anti-rightist forces comprised three main blocs. The largest was direct supporters of Wahid, members of organisations directly affiliated with the PKB or with Nahdlatual Ulama, the religious organisation Wahid headed before he assumed the presidency. They mostly come from East Java, Nahdlatul Ulama's heartland.
One of these groups, the semi-militia group Banser, had said it would take 85,000 members to Jakarta — but was told by Wahid to back off. These groups have no platform other than defending Wahid and his presidency and mobilised between 1000 and 2000 people separately from other anti-rightist forces.
The second major anti-rightist bloc includes the several student collectives which trace their origins to groups such as Forkot, which played a major part in the anti-Suharto student movement of 1998. These students have organised major actions demanding Suharto and other Golkar leaders be brought to trial and that the military's role in politics be brought to an end. These different collective networks mobilised separately, each with slightly different demands, some concentrating on Suharto, others on Golkar.
The third component was a contingent comprising the PRD, the Peoples Democratic Party, and drawing on supporters from its associated mass organisations, such as the Indonesian National Front for Workers Struggle (FNPBI) and the National Student League for Democracy (LMND), as well as from other groups, some associated with the Indonesian Islamic Student Association (PMII).
These are part of the Anti-New Order People's Front, FRAROB, a national network of city-based coalitions whose platform rests on four basic demands: the establishment of a commission to investigate all human rights violations and corruption since the 1965 establishment of the New Order regime; the trial of all human rights violators before either a people's court or an international tribunal; the nationalisation of the assets of Suharto and his cronies; and the abolition of the political role of the armed forces.
While the radical forces were smaller in number than the anti-Wahid students, some of the latter briefly took up anti-Golkar slogans. In Indonesia, it is difficult to maintain any public credibility on the corruption issue while remaining silent on the massive corruption of Golkar and the Suharto regime.
Golkar chairperson Akbar Tanjung responded to criticism by threatening to take to court anybody who attacked Golkar.