Indonesia's new President Megawati Sukarnoputri spent her first day in office on Tuesday with her predecessor and erstwhile friend still refusing to budge from the presidential palace.
Abdurrahman Wahid, shocked over his sacking for incompetence by the top assembly on Monday, was still holed up at the sprawling colonial-era palace in central Jakarta.
"We will try gradually (to get Wahid to leave) as everything cools down," top Megawati aide Bambang Kesowo told reporters, adding that Wahid would "probably" leave this week.
Megawati, apparently keen to avoid confrontation and inflame Wahid's millions of followers, has been holding meetings in the vice-presidential office, her former workplace.
Megawati, the daughter of founding President Sukarno, is expected to name a cabinet within days and start tackling the political and economic woes that have made Indonesia one of Asia's most unstable and ungovernable states.
Foreign leaders, especially of Jakarta's anxious neighbours, have welcomed Megawati's promotion from vice president and also praised the peaceful transition in the world's fourth most populous nation, more used to bloodshed when changing leaders.
Indonesia's 210 million people have also breathed a sigh of relief over the fact that the violence many feared would accompany Wahid's fall has failed to erupt.
Newspapers welcomed Megawati's appointment to the presidency -- "It's Mega's Moment", hailed the Jakarta Post -- but said it was time for her to mend fences with her predecessor.
"Megawati should treat Gus Dur properly," Media Indonesia said, referring to Wahid by his nickname. "This nation has to start to learn how to respect its leaders. Falling leaders should not receive limitless ridicule."
Jakarta was quiet early on Tuesday. So too was Wahid's heartland in East Java, where some of his supporters have pledged to die for him but where Islamic leaders have urged calm.
Some 100-200 Wahid supporters from East Java camped out at a mosque near the palace overnight but said they wanted no trouble.
"We just want to express support for Wahid and show that many Indonesians still want him as president," Taufikurrahman, from the volatile East Java town of Pasuruan, told Reuters.
A big question mark hangs over Megawati's abilities and of those who will form her team. Although she is adored by the impoverished masses and her party won the most votes in a 1999 election for parliament, she is still well short of a majority.
HUGE JOB AHEAD
"What we need now is not a genius, a visionary leader, but someone who can lead a team by utilising the potentials of others, someone who will listen to advices of others," said Maswadi Rauf, political analyst at the University of Indonesia.
"Those qualities are more apparent in Megawati."
But analyst Muhammad Budhyatna said he was worried about human rights and corruption.
"Megawati may neglect these issues because her fate is in the hands of the parties and the military," he said. "When you talk human rights, you'll nudge the military. When you talk corruption, you'll nudge (former ruling party) Golkar ... If they are annoyed, her fate may follow (Wahid)."
In the space of four years, Indonesia has gone from being a regional heavyweight and economic success story to the East Asian country analysts fret about most after North Korea.
The Asian economic crisis in late 1997 savaged Indonesia's economy, helping to uncork forces that led to the bloody downfall of Suharto the following year and setting the stage for the political chaos that has endured ever since.
It is also not clear how Megawati will remove Wahid from the palace, even though he has no military or police support to stay.
Politicians such as Amien Rais, speaker of the supreme People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and Wahid's most ardent political enemy, have indicated the ailing 60-year-old Muslim cleric would be persuaded, not forced, to leave.
"Forcing him to leave would not be human... It's no problem," Rais was quoted by the official Antara news agency as saying.
Indonesia's financial markets greeted the prospect of Wahid's downfall with glee on Monday, with the rupiah and the stock market both staging hefty gains.
The local currency rose to 9,900 to the dollar on Tuesday for the first time since March 16. Stocks slipped on profit taking.
A sustained recovery in both will need a credible economic team and clear policies from a woman more famous for her reticence and silence than her grasp of governance. She is expected to draft in some respected faces to key economic posts.
Her deputy is expected to be named on Wednesday.
Like Wahid, Indonesia's fourth president in as many turbulent years will need to rely on an inherently unstable series of alliances to serve out the rest of Wahid's term to 2004.
Wahid gained a reputation as one of Indonesia's leading democrats, expressing vocal opposition to former autocrat Suharto, but his increasingly muddled rule was seen a liability to the crisis-ridden country and crippled political scene.
His decision to declare a state of emergency and attempt to dissolve the top legislature to stave off impeachment and hold on to power was the final straw for the MPR.
After taking the oath of office on Monday, Megawati read a short speech urging all sides to accept her appointment.
(Chinadialy.com.cn 07/25/2001)
