Word: megawati
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TIME.com: Indonesia's beleaguered President Abdurrahman Wahid on Friday offered to share power with his more popular deputy, Megawati Sukarnoputri, but she turned him down. With the military backing Megawati and the political elite having turned on Wahid, how long can the president hold...
...likely to go ahead in July or August. Until then, Wahid will be doing everything in his power to win support from other parties. His own party controls only 10 percent of the seats, and he won the presidency with support from other parties who wanted to keep out Megawati, who won the most votes in the election. But his prospects of winning the support necessary to stay in power look very bleak...
...these parties that voted against Megawati now ready to support...
...simply opportunism. They realize that Wahid will fall, and believe that if they ally themselves with Megawati, who is fairly malleable, they'll get more in terms of cabinet seats and plush appointments. And they're also gambling that Megawati is very weak, and that she won't last very long, either. Then, other contenders will take advantage of the ensuing chaos to make their own bid for power...
...thing Megawati does have going for her besides more popular support than any of her rivals, is the backing of the military top brass. Having kept Suharto in power for three decades and then engineered his ouster when street protests threatened chronic instability, the military remains the ultimate arbiter of power in Jakarta. And while they're staying out of the parliamentary fray, the generals have warned the politicians to keep their differences off the streets. While there are no fears of an imminent coup, a long-term bout of political instability at the center amid an unraveling...