Indonesian Hardball

Faced with a grilling by Parliament on July 13 and a possible no-confidence vote at a People's Consultative Assembly session in August, President Abdurrahman Wahid is going on the offensive. On July 1, he ordered Attorney General Marzuki Darusman to arrest and interrogate several legislators in connection with the mass murder of minority Christians in the province of Maluku. Sources close to Wahid say the move--which the President later denied he ordered--was intended to intimidate legislators who are holdovers from the Suharto regime who want to impeach him. Their effort is the first serious challenge to Wahid since he took office last October on a political reform platform.

Those reforms may be in danger. Critics say that by ordering the arrest of the legislators, Wahid showed callous disregard for the rule of law, which is central to his reforms. The move also reinforced the suspicion among investors that Wahid may not be the political master he's cracked up to be. On July 4, the rupiah fell to a 16-month low as a bomb exploded in the Attorney General's office.