Word: wahid
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...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...
...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...
...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 had been a close friend and adviser of Megawati, but the moderate Muslim leader broke with the populist icon over her reliance on street protests as a political tool. The verdict of the international financial community is not yet in, however, because Wahid is more of a spiritual leader than a policy wonk and has given very little indication of his economic thinking, save for general statements about complying with IMF requirements. Although he led a coalition of Islamic parties that opposed giving the presidency to a woman, Wahid is considered relatively liberal and his insistence on ending social...