Vice President to Assume Wahid’s Daily Duties of Governing Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia —  President Abdurrahman Wahid announced Wednesday that he will hand over the day-to-day responsibility of running the troubled Indonesian government to his vice president, Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Wahid, 60, an ailing and legally blind Muslim cleric who became Indonesia’s first democratically elected president in October, made the announcement to the People’s Consultative Assembly, or MPR, whose 700 lawmakers have been widely critical of his lack of management skills, unpredictable actions and inattention to detail. Some have called for his resignation.

Details of the change remain unclear, but Megawati’s elevation to a hands-on governmental role is unlikely to have any practical impact on policy, economically or politically, and does not necessarily mean that the wily Wahid has retreated. It seems likely, however, that he will in effect become the moral and intellectual voice for the world’s fourth-most-populous country--a role for which Indonesians agree he is eminently qualified.

“I will charge the vice president with executing the daily technical tasks, to draw up the Cabinet working agenda and to establish the focus and priority of government,” he told the lawmakers, to enthusiastic applause.

Wahid, in his official response to two days of criticism at the annual MPR meeting, also said he will shuffle his Cabinet next week and continue to protect the territorial integrity of Indonesia, a reference to his refusal to grant independence to the resource-rich provinces of Aceh and Irian Jaya, which are roiled by separatist movements.

Political analysts say Wahid had spoken privately of wanting to concentrate on international affairs--he has visited 30 countries during the 10 months of his presidency--and already has grown weary of being president. Transferring some powers to Megawati was one of two options publicly discussed before the 10-day MPR session began Monday. The other was the creation of a “senior minister” position, an idea that Megawati rejected because it would dilute her power.

Megawati, 53, is the daughter of Indonesia’s founding father and first president, the late Sukarno. She heads the Indonesian Democratic Party in Struggle, which holds the most seats--185--in the 700-member MPR. Wahid’s National Awakening Party has only 8% of the seats, and the president, who was elected to a five-year term, governed by stitching together a diverse coalition.

Before the October election, Wahid and Megawati were close allies, united in their common distaste for former President Suharto and the corruption and nepotism that his 32-year rule symbolized. More recently, Megawati has quarreled with Wahid, criticizing him for ignoring advice and not taking a tough enough stance against the separatists in Irian Jaya, which is the western half of New Guinea, and Aceh, in northern Sumatra.

Wahid, for instance, allowed the Irian Jaya separatists to call themselves Papuans and fly their independence flag--concessions that Megawati believed served only to fan the flames of independence. In Aceh, Wahid signed a three-month “humanitarian” cease-fire in May with the Free Aceh Movement. On Wednesday, Wahid’s Cabinet said it was willing to extend the cease-fire, which could lead to delicate political talks with the guerrilla movement.

Megawati is wildly popular with the Indonesian masses, primarily because they still idolize her father, even though he ended up as a disgraced dictator. She has railed against nepotism and corruption and considered Suharto, who was forced to resign in 1998 in the wake of a student rebellion, an archenemy.

But political analysts point out that Megawati’s resume is bare except for her pedigree and the fact that she was once a florist. She is shy, passive and dislikes the media. She seldom gives speeches or interviews and is not noted for her intellectual capacity or for generating ideas. Many Western diplomats question whether she has the ability to lead but believe that her ascendancy could dampen some of the political tensions in Indonesia.