World

Push To Sack Wahid

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 30, 2001 / 6:56 AM EST / CBS

The head of Indonesia's top legislature wants it to be convened immediately to consider sacking President Abdurrahman Wahid, local media reported on Friday.

Calls for Wahid to quit or stand aside pending investigations mounted on Friday after parliament censured him over two multi-million-dollar graft scandals. But the president said through a spokesman that he would not resign.

People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker Amien Rais, a Wahid ally turned foe, said the normally slow process of calling a special session should be bypassed to avoid instability after Thursday's censure.

"The bleeding must be stopped, otherwise it will get worse," the Observer newspaper quoted him saying. "Wahid's credibility has dropped to zero."

Parliament in a 393-4 landslide to accept the findings of an inquiry implicating Wahid in the corruption scandals.

Forty-three deputies from Wahid's party walked out as the vote was taken, just hours after more than 10,000 anti-corruption protesters took to the streets.

Earlier this week, the report by a 50-member parliamentary committee implicated Wahid in the two scandals. It accused him of acting improperly, but presented no conclusive evidence that he had benefited.

Representatives of the powerful military also voted against Wahid. Out of the 10 factions in parliament, only two — including Wahid's own National Awakening Party — defended him.

Wahid has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and has maintained that he is not accountable to parliament.

The censure caps mounting frustration over Wahid's erratic rule, which has largely failed to pull Indonesia out of years of political and economic mess or end communal bloodshed.

It has cleared the way for possible impeachment, but the formal process would take more than four months and requires at least one more formal parliamentary reprimand.

The complicated procedures, a lack of any credible alternative and fears a political coup could trigger bloodshed mean Wahid is likely to survive for now, despite the censure.

But the setback means few now believe he can serve out his full term to 2004. Some analysts believe he will not survive beyond the next regular MPR session in August.

Rais' party was one of several that joined to engineer Wahid's surprise rise to power 15 months ago but have since deserted him.

Analysts say parliament's censure has undermined Wahid's credibility and his already shaky grip on power.

"It's better for Gus Dur (Wahid) to resign than wait until the MPR sets up a special session to impeach him," said Nurcholish Madjid, the leading Muslim scholar in the world's largest Muslim nation.