The decision of the Indonesian parliament at the end of May to censure President Abdurrahman Wahid for a third time opens the way for his removal.
A special meeting of the Peoples Consultative Assembly has been called for 1st August to proceed with impeachment, the only legal way of removing the President. The massive 365-4 vote for censure (Wahid’s small National Awakening Party walked out before the vote) showed that the alliance that had brought him to power had completely disintegrated.
It opens the way for the Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, head of the largest party in parliament the PDIP and Wahid’s former ally, to assume the presidency.
The vote came at the end of months of manoeuvres by Wahid to hang onto power. A proposed compromise being brokered by sections of the PDIP and Golkar, that Wahid transfer all executive powers to Megawati and become a titular head of state, was rejected by him. Instead Wahid threatened to dissolve parliament and declare a state of emergency with support of the army (TNI).
Plans to remove obstructive generals, in particular the Chief of Staff, led to a meeting between Megawati and the army chiefs at which she made clear she would oppose such a measure. Wahid fell back on threats to mobilise his supporters from East Java and bring hundreds of thousands to the capital. Riots paralysed East Java for three days around the censure motion with PDIP offices being attacked by Wahid supporters.
Behind the parliamentary crisis and jockeying for power lies the growing political and economic crisis in the country. The collapse of the Suharto military dictatorship, and the retreat of the army from East Timor, has led to growing demands for independence amongst minorities held in the iron grip of the Indonesian military for decades. In Aceh, Papua, the Moluccas and elsewhere – movements are demanding autonomy or separation.
Aceh has been the most intractable problem for Wahid negotiations with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) which have been going on for almost a year have virtually collapsed. The „ceasefire“ in that period has seen thousands killed and tortured by the police and army – 600 have been killed this year alone. Wahid who was in favour of trying to bring peace with promise of greater autonomy has increasingly given in to the army’s desire to launch an offensive against the GAM.
But the TNI wants to reassert its role as „defender of the integrity of the nation“. In this it has an ally in Megawati who is an anti-federalist, nationalist in the tradition of her father Sukarno, the independence leader and first president of Indonesia.
The ousting of Wahid is likely to lead to a further crack down on those seeking autonomy or independence. Already this is happening in Aceh and Papua. The leader of the Front for Maluku Sovereignty has been charged with treason, while Aceh student organisations in Jakarta campaigning for a referendum on independence, promised by Wahid but not delivered, have been raided and accused of terrorism.
But Wahid’s demise is not guaranteed – a month still remains before the assembly meets and many backroom deals can be struck between the bourgeois parties. The outcome of this bourgeois struggle will have little impact on the real problems the workers and poor peasants face – IMF austerity, inflation, unemployment, dire poverty and military repression. To be rid of these a new party offering a workers solution to the crisis is needed.