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President Wahid suspends Parliament, but proceedings to impeach him move forward.
©New York Times
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 23, 2001
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, facing imminent removal by Parliament and abandoned by his military commanders, declared a state of emergency early today, setting the stage for a divisive political confrontation.
The announcement met with widespread anger and defiance and only appeared to galvanize the determination of Parliament, which opened a hearing today to impeach Wahid for alleged incompetence and corruption. Assembly chairman Amien Rais predicted Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri could be installed as president by midday.
"Abdurrahman Wahid will be dismissed by the (assembly) because he has violated the constitution, especially by declaring a state of emergency," said parliament speaker Akbar Tandjung.
The military and police also refused to obey Wahid's order to shut down the legislature and the proceedings. Instead, troops and tanks were deployed to protect legislators in the troubled Southeast Asian nation.
The decree, read on television just after 1 a.m., said the president was "freezing" the Parliament in advance of today's session and closing down one of the political parties that oppose him. It called for elections in one year, to be administered by a special governing council.
Wahid is nearly blind and his announcement was read by a spokesman. As he has done on other public occasions, Wahid dozed briefly in his chair as the decree was being read.
Commentators called the announcement the act of a desperate and confused man. The Supreme Court issued a statement calling aspects of the decree into question on constitutional grounds.
As Wahid's last vestiges of support evaporated, at least six ministers quit his Cabinet in protest.
Tanks that had massed during the night outside the palace in a warning by the military to the president remained in place, their cannons directed toward the presidential residence.
The decree drew expressions of outrage from political commentators who appeared afterward on television.
"These are the actions of a dictator," said Andi Mallarangeng, a leading political analyst. "It is time for the people to say goodbye to Wahid. As a citizen of Indonesia, I urge people not to obey this decree."
Adnan Buyung Nasution, a prominent legal expert, said the president should be arrested. "He acted beyond reason," Nasution said. "Obviously this act is outside the law. There is no such thing in the constitution as this decree."
The televised announcement followed a desperate night during which Wahid tried in vain to find a general who would carry out a decree.
With his back to the wall on Sunday, he summoned the chiefs of the military services and threatened to fire them if they did not carry out his order, military officers said.
When they declined, he summoned another general, Johnny Lumintang, and offered him a top command position in the hope that he would be more compliant, but he too declined.
Throughout the evening, two top military figures were with the president in the palace, reportedly trying to persuade him to resign -- armed forces chief, Adm. Widodo Adi Sutjipto, and the president's security adviser, Gen. Agum Gumelar.
They emerged close to midnight looking grim. "Don't let this country fall apart," Agum said. "Save this country. Don't let it fall apart."
At a news conference later, he said the president had reacted emotionally, saying, "Those who are with me can stay; those who are against me can leave."
Although Wahid called on the military to prevent the convening of the legislature, chairman Rais, said it would proceed.
"We believe this decree is against our constitution," Rais said at a predawn news conference. "I can tell you that it is a foregone conclusion that Mr. Wahid will be dismissed as president."
In justifying his action, Wahid said such a move would create two competing governments, a situation that would "cause extreme turbulence" in this already unstable nation. He asserted that his removal would fuel separatist movements and threaten national unity.
Rais, on the other hand, said earlier that such a standoff would be no problem. "Let him stay in his palace, never mind," he said. "After a while he will leave."
The removal of Wahid, 64, would end the tenure of Indonesia's first freely elected leader in nearly half a century. He was elected to a five-year term in October 1999 by the same assembly that is now preparing to remove him.
Wahid was an unlikely choice for president. Although he was a revered Muslim cleric, his party had won only 10 percent of the vote in parliamentary elections. Nearly blind from diabetes, he has suffered at least two strokes and walks with difficulty.
However, he outmaneuvered Megawati, whose party had placed first in the voting. Wahid won in part by playing on Muslim antipathy toward the idea of a female president.
Support for the erratic Wahid soon eroded, and members of Parliament began calling for his removal.
The formal charges focus on his alleged role in two multimillion-dollar corruption scandals and his decision Friday to appoint an interim national police commander without parliament's approval.
Although investigators have found no evidence that the president benefited personally from the graft cases, the incidents have become a catalyst for growing frustration among legislators with Wahid's erratic behavior and his inattention to the country's problems. Many contend Wahid has failed to address the economic stagnation, bloody separatist conflicts and rampant corruption that plague this nation of 225-million people.
Leaders of all of the country's main political parties except Wahid's announced they would back Megawati's ascension to the presidency after meeting with her Sunday. Megawati, 54, is the daughter of Sukarno, Indonesia's founding leader and former president.
"We all have agreed to give her moral support in her quest to lead a new government," said Rais. "Only by doing this can we make the nation stable once more and regain the people's confidence, which the current government has lost."
On Sunday, bombs exploded at two churches in an east Jakarta suburb. Officials said 72 were injured at a Catholic church. Minutes later, a second bomb exploded at a nearby Protestant church.
- Information from the Associated Press, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post was used in this report.