Lawmakers Deal Wahid a Blow

President Abdurrahman Wahid suffered a major defeat Wednesday when the parliament he once called a “kindergarten” voted overwhelmingly to push ahead with his ouster.

By a vote of 365 to 4, lawmakers decided to convene a special session of Indonesia’s highest constitutional body, the People’s Consultative Assembly, to decide whether to remove the unpredictable president from office.

As lawmakers debated Wahid’s future, about 1,000 of his supporters broke through police barricades outside the parliament building and entered the grounds. The angry crowd faced off with well-armed riot police for more than two hours before retreating and heading to the presidential palace.

The ongoing political crisis and violence have brought chaos to the world’s fourth-most-populous country and threaten to trigger an economic collapse that could spread beyond Indonesia’s borders.

Wahid has predicted a “nationwide rebellion” if he is kicked out of office and has asserted that at least three provinces of this fractious country will declare their independence. Some of his foes say the president is promoting anarchy with such statements.

As the country’s debt has risen and its currency fallen, Wahid has squandered much of the political capital he once enjoyed. The vote by parliament Wednesday appeared to give him little chance of hanging on to his job. But a spokesman said the president has no intention of resigning.

Already, the votes are stacked against him. All 500 members of parliament belong to the 700-member People’s Consultative Assembly. A simple majority of 351 is all that is required to unseat Wahid--14 fewer than voted against him Wednesday.

The assembly, which also includes regional officials, will be convened by August, but no date has been set. The sooner the session is held, the less time Wahid will have to win back the support he needs to stay in office.

Parliament Speaker Akbar Tanjung, however, said that removing the president won’t be automatic and that there is still time to strike a compromise.

“Anything is possible at the special session,” said Tanjung, a onetime ally of former dictator Suharto. “The main point is for the president to be accountable. There are still chances for new deals.”

Wahid, a Muslim cleric who previously headed the world’s largest Islamic organization, was elected president 19 months ago by the same assembly that will now consider his dismissal.

Although he is viewed by the West as democratically oriented, Wahid threatened to declare a state of emergency, impose martial law and dissolve parliament if lawmakers voted to convene the national assembly. He backed away from his plan Monday when his own top military and police officials opposed him.

Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri will become president if Wahid is forced out of office.

Daughter of the late President Sukarno, she is considered to be more nationalistic and more closely allied with Indonesia’s tarnished military than Wahid. The president calls her his “sister” but outmaneuvered her to win the presidency in 1999.

Demands for Wahid’s ouster began with allegations that he was involved in the theft of $4.1 million in government funds by his personal masseur and that he didn’t properly account for $2 million given to him by the sultan of Brunei.

The president has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. No proof has surfaced that he personally profited from either deal, and his own attorney general cleared him of the charges this week. But complaints about Wahid escalated far beyond the corruption charges as his critics called into question his ability to govern the country.

Parliament voted in February and again in early May to censure the president for his role in the scandals, setting the stage for Wednesday’s vote to convene the People’s Consultative Assembly.

Parliament spent all day and into the evening debating whether Wahid should be unseated. Seven of parliament’s 10 factions voted against the president, while 51 of his supporters walked out of the session before the balloting.

The 38 members of parliament who represent the military abstained so they would not have to vote on a measure that could remove their commander in chief.

Thousands of supporters from Wahid’s home region in East Java traveled to this capital city to lend their support. Many Wahid backers have pledged to die defending him, and some have called for the death of his chief parliamentary rivals.

Violent protests continued for the third day in East Java, where the president’s backers have burned churches, a mosque and the offices of Wahid’s rivals. Paratroops jumped from airplanes to help quell the rioting, and one died when his chute didn’t open, becoming the first fatality of the conflict.

In Jakarta, about 6,000 demonstrators gathered outside parliament while the debate was underway, and 1,000 pushed their way through the first ring of 6-foot-tall barricades protecting the grounds.

Riot police armed with clubs, shields and tear gas formed lines and held their ground as militant leaders harangued crowd members over loudspeakers about the virtues of sacrificing themselves in a holy war in the president’s behalf.

Protesters said they were supporting the president because he has helped the poor and lifted restrictions on freedom of speech. But in the end, the demonstrators backed down and said they would go peacefully to Wahid’s residence and urge him to issue a decree dissolving parliament.

“Our legislators do not represent the aspirations of the lower-class people,” said one protester, who gave his name as H. Bucheri. “After the president issues the decree, we will defend it until the parliament is really dissolved.”