Word: wahid
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...President Abdurrahman Wahid arrived at the presidential palace in central Jakarta last October, his spirits and those of the country were riding high. After 32 years of Suharto's dictatorship and 17 months of interim rule by Suharto's deputy B.J. Habibie, Indonesia was finally getting a reformist President who preached tolerance and democratic openness. But as the blind Muslim cleric and his family mounted the palace steps, a cry rang out. A dukun--a Javanese soothsayer--who habitually accompanies Wahid called the party to a halt. He said he could see the "big man," the spirit of Suharto, standing...
...Wahid is known to his 212 million fellow citizens, waited for the soothsayer to finish before crossing the threshold. "It was the black power of Suharto," says Yenny, the President's daughter. "He was trying to hurt...
Thus began the bizarre reign of Indonesia's fourth President, a man so contradictory that even his closest aides say they cannot understand him half the time. With one foot in the traditional world of Javanese mysticism and the other in the modern world of globalization, Wahid has an internal compass that spins wildly in all directions. He knows the Koran by heart and can also discuss German soccer players with Chancellor Gerhard Schroder. He tells risque jokes to his "friend" Bill Clinton and then pays court to Fidel Castro and Muammar Gaddafi. Of more concern, he is fickle...
...When Wahid took office, his unpredictability was interpreted as an asset in a complex mission to cleanse Indonesia of the legacy of Suharto. Eight months on, even his supporters are starting to worry that it might be a liability. The economy is barely holding together, and religious violence is shaking the country to its foundations. Since mid-June, more than 200 Christians and Muslims have been killed in fighting in the Maluku Islands. Having admitted that "the situation is out of control," Wahid two weeks ago declared a state of emergency in the region. But the shooting and bombing have...
That authority is spreading. When Indonesia's new reformist President, Abdurrahman Wahid, visited last month, an angry crowd gathered to protest the disappearance of their relatives during the occupation. Gusmao immediately jumped off the podium and plunged into the crowd, arguing, calming and pleading until, single-handedly, he had pacified several hundred people. Then he led three of the protesters through the throng to meet Wahid. "It was amazing," says Peter Galbraith, former U.S. ambassador to Croatia, now working for the U.N. in East Timor. "There was this woman politely asking Wahid to know where her husband was buried...