Indonesia's Odd Couple

By Terry McCarthy/Jakarta

The blind Muslim cleric stumbled forward and butted the microphone with his head before a minder steadied him. Another aide whispered the presidential oath in his ear as he pretended to read the words out loud from the folder thrust into his hands. It was an awkward beginning in front of the national assembly for Abdurrahman Wahid, a stroke victim who last Wednesday became the first freely elected President of Indonesia. And it was a bitter denouement for Megawati Sukarnoputri, the presumed front runner who had been left sucking for air by a series of political maneuvers she hadn't even seen coming.

Back in his seat, Wahid, 59, appeared to doze for a time until he was helped to the podium again to make his acceptance speech. After promising economic reform, Wahid cut his speech short, "because the longer I speak, the more we will have to account for later." The 700 delegates burst into laughter as the tension evaporated. The man fondly known by the nickname "Gus Dur" had shown once more that despite his physical frailty, neither his wit nor his wits had deserted him.

His truly brilliant piece of manipulation was yet to come. Even as Megawati dabbed at her tears and her supporters were rioting in the streets outside, the wily Wahid was engineering a compromise under which she would be voted Vice President the following day. Indonesia underwent yet another of its dizzying mood swings. Within 24 hrs., the Molotov cocktails and rocks that had pelted the police were replaced by victory chants and firecrackers as Megawati's followers turned the center of Jakarta into a street party that lasted into the small hours of Friday morning.

Indonesia would be an easy diagnosis for a psychiatrist: manic-depressive. In the 18 months since former President Suharto was deposed, the country has lurched repeatedly from giddy euphoria to violent despair and back. But despite the ethnic violence, lynchings and looting in major cities and the carnage in seceding East Timor, this sprawling archipelago of 210 million people has not disintegrated into ungovernability or civil war. Some had predicted the world's next Yugoslavia, but after last week, Indonesia had instead completed its graduation from a military-backed dictatorship to the world's third largest democracy (after India and the U.S.). "Indonesia is born again," said military historian Salim Said. "This is a chance to finally see if civilians can run the country or not."

It is a steep challenge. Healing Indonesia's frayed psyche will mean confronting a host of ethnic and religious wounds, as well as tending to a shattered economy that the World Bank says has suffered the worst decline of any since World War II. And if the bizarre twosome of Wahid and Megawati, so different in almost every other aspect of their characters, have one thing in common, it is their lack of experience in government.

Wahid is from a distinguished family of Muslim leaders. Known for his mischievous wit, the multilingual scholar speaks English and Arabic fluently. He studied in Iraq and Egypt, and heads the 30 million-strong Nahdlatul Ulama, a nationwide association that runs traditional Islamic schools. But he also is a lover of Western literature and classical music, has a long record of opposing religious extremism and speaking out on behalf of the Christian and Chinese minorities in Indonesia and has even recommended opening diplomatic relations with Israel--much to the fury of more conservative Islamic groups. "Gus Dur is a pluralist by nature," says Islamic scholar Nurcholish Majid. "Islamic law would be far from his mind."

It is the immense respect Wahid commands from across the political spectrum that allowed him to seize the presidency. He knew the incumbent, B.J. Habibie, was too unpopular to be re-elected, but he also knew that his former ally Megawati was not going to be able to get enough votes in the assembly to win. Megawati's P.D.I. party had won the single largest share of the vote in June's national elections. But subsequently the former housewife failed to reach out to other parties to guarantee herself a majority in the assembly. Muslim parties began to rail against the prospect of having a female President. Wahid and Megawati had been very close in the reformist campaign last year, but even he came to resent her aloofness after the June polls: a mobile phone he carried whose number only she knew "rarely rang," according to one of his aides.

The daughter of Sukarno, Indonesia's first President, Megawati spent her childhood in the presidential palace and has a Brahmin's sense of entitlement. She instinctively shuns the business of dealmaking and says, "For me, silence is a political act." But her refusal to engage with other parties, plus the rabble-rousing tactics of her supporters, threatened to degenerate into a head-on confrontation with Islamic parties. "Megawati's followers were talking about revolution, while some of Habibie's [Muslim] followers were talking about a jihad," says Dewi Fortuna Anwar, a senior adviser to Habibie. A compromise had to be found, and Wahid was its vehicle. "He plays high-class politics beautifully--with both friends and foes," says Ahmad Suhelmi, lecturer in politics at the University of Indonesia. Wahid's first task will be to reconvert Megawati from a foe back into a friend.

Communication between Wahid and Megawati will become vital in the months ahead, as a new Cabinet is chosen and the political odd couple set about governing the country. "Because Gus cannot read documents, the question is who will control the flow of information to him," says Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, a former Cabinet minister. "There will be fierce competition over who is going to whisper in his ear." Or his mobile phone.

Of even greater concern is Wahid's fragile health. He suffered a stroke in 1998 that left him unable to walk unaided. "We need a leader who can unite the nation, and he has the capacity," says Emil Salim, a respected former Finance Minister. "But Gus Dur is not a healthy man." Should he die or become incapacitated, Megawati would take over as President for the remainder of his five-year term--something that could spark renewed opposition from Muslim parties, particularly if it happened before she had time to mend some political fences.

Indonesia is still in a very delicate state of recovery. It has passed its first democratic test, but it faces enormous economic problems, and its sense of self is fragmented at best. The eccentric pairing of the blind cleric and the mute princess will not enjoy a long honeymoon.

--With reporting by Zamira Loebis and Jason Tedjasukmana/Jakarta and David Liebhold/Bangkok

With reporting by Zamira Loebis and Jason Tedjasukmana/Jakarta and David Liebhold/Bangkok