Global Policy Forum

By Geoff Spencer

Angry lawmakers on Monday demanded that parliament censure President Abdurrahman Wahid for a second time, setting the scene for possible impeachment over alleged corruption and mismanagement.

Meeting behind razor wire and guarded by thousands of police and troops, all but three of 10 party groups in the 500-member legislature condemned Wahid's presidency. Only Wahid's own small National Awakening Party and a tiny Christian party defended the embattled leader, who has accused lawmakers of acting unconstitutionally against him in an attempt to oust him before his term ends in 2004. A faction representing the powerful military said it would abstain, when the legislature is expected to vote and pass a formal censure motion late Monday.

The censure would be the second issued against Wahid in the past three months. Under the constitution, he has one month to respond to the reprimand. If the parliament rejects his reply, it can ask the People's Consultative Assembly, Indonesia's highest legislative body, to start impeachment proceedings.

Wahid, a prominent, half-blind Muslim cleric, is now under intense pressure to quit in favor of popular Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who heads parliament's largest party and is the daughter of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno. ``President Wahid is now a lame duck,'' said Andi Malarangeng, a Jakarta political analyst and former policy adviser to the government. He needs an exit strategy. Resigning would be an honorable thing to do.''

Some parliamentary leaders predicted he would be out by August. Even close Wahid aides indicated that his administration is in serious peril. ``I don't know if he will survive or not,'' said Defense Minister Mohammad Mahfud. Wahid has denied that he did anything illegal. On Monday he stayed behind closed doors at the state palace, following proceedings on television and listening to music, his aides said.

Prepared for mass demonstrations, police and troops were deployed at potential trouble spots. The city remained largely calm, although about 3,000 pro-Wahid demonstrators marched peacefully down the main thoroughfare in pouring rain. Only about 50 protesters dodged tight security and made it to the gates of parliament. Wahid has called for peace, but some more extreme loyalists have formed paramilitary squads and have offered to die for him. They also have threatened to kill senior opposition figures if Wahid is ousted.

Even so, lawmakers were unreserved in their criticism of the head of state. ``The president has increasingly lost the confidence and support of the people,'' said Dwiria Latifa, speaking on behalf of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, the largest bloc in the legislature. ``We urge the parliament to deliver a second censure,'' she said to the cheers of other legislators. The party is headed by Sukarnoputri, who has failed to publicly back Wahid. Speakers criticized Wahid for failing to explain his involvement in two corruption scandals, not fixing the crisis-ridden economy, and for not preventing rising separatist and communal violence.

A protracted constitutional brawl between Wahid and the legislature has complicated the Southeast Asian nation's uneasy transition to democracy and worsened its economic downturn. Since he assumed office in October, 1999, Wahid has annoyed lawmakers by refusing to bend to a number of their demands and by making dozens of extravagant foreign trips while domestic problems festered.

Fed up, parliament last year launch an investigation into his alleged involvement in the two corruption affairs. He has flatly denied knowledge of a scam in which a business associate siphoned off $4 million from the pension fund of the state's main food agency. He has also denied any wrongdoing in a second scandal in which he admits accepting a $2 million personal aid donation from the ruler of neighboring oil-rich Brunei. Lawmakers say he should have declared the gift and complain that the money has not been accounted for.