Indonesia's Dangerous Vacuum In Economic Leadership

Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has saved the world's fourth-largest nation from violent collapse. Since taking office last October, this master of Javanese politics has used his reputation as a tolerant Islamic cleric to pacify riots, wrest power from a military establishment that ran the country under deposed President Suharto, and defuse a coup threat by former armed forces commander General Wiranto. He has duped opponents by offering them top jobs, sacking them when they least expected it, and replacing them with trusted allies. And he has managed it all despite his diabetes, blindness, and inability to walk unassisted.

But Wahid has failed to apply his political acumen to economic policy--an area where Indonesia certainly needs major change. Sources close to the President say he regularly falls asleep in meetings with Cabinet ministers and foreign officials when trade, investment, or economic planning are discussed. Unable to read documents and suspicious of the technocrats whom he appointed to the Cabinet in compromises with erstwhile rival Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, Wahid acts on rumors and accusations about Megawati's party whispered by allies in private meetings. The result is that Indonesia has no economic policy other than a pledge to follow vague guidelines and meet growth targets set by the International Monetary Fund.