By Tomi Soetjipto
Jakarta - Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid dropped former military chief General Wiranto from the cabinet, changing his mind only hours after saying the general could stay, a spokesman said on Monday.
The highly public tussle between the two men, which sparked fears of a coup, began two weeks ago when Wahid told the general to resign after he was incriminated in a report on last year's violence in East Timor following a vote for independence.
"For the stability of the government and also for the sake of General Wiranto to concentrate, the president has decided to suspend General Wiranto," said cabinet secretary Marsilam Simanjuntak.
Wiranto is due to be formally replaced later in the morning by retired general Surjadi Soerdirdja, who will keep his position as interior minister.
Although officially a suspension, the move could well be a death blow for Wiranto's political ambitions and bars him from cabinet meetings.
He shot through the ranks under former despot Suharto, eventually rising to military commander and defence minister.
He was even touted as a future president.
But his image was badly dented by the brutal crushing of student protests in the capital in 1998, his failure to curb mounting ethnic and religious violence around the country and the military's role in the systematic ruin of East Timor after it voted to go independent last August.
When Wahid became Indonesia's first democratically elected president four months ago, he put Wiranto in the ostensibly powerful position of coo-rdinating minister for political and security affairs, but cut him off from direct control over the military.
In the slow-motion sidelining of Wiranto, the president told him this month he would have to retire from the military.
Then, two weeks ago, at the start of a foreign tour, in a move many saw as trying to ensure international support, he told Wiranto to quit the cabinet because of his role in the East Timor violence.
"The decision was taken to show the international community that the government was consistent," said a palace spokesman
Despite promise of a pardon, Wiranto had refused to budge, triggering concerns that he or supporters in the military might attempt a coup, something other top generals denied would happen.
Wiranto, who has always insisted he was innocent of the allegations of repeated abuses by the military under his command, never made clear why he would not obey his president's order.
Earlier on Sunday, Wahid had appeared to back down in his battle of wills with Wiranto, saying he would allow the general to stay in the cabinet until a special probe into his alleged involvement into last year's violence in East Timor was complete.
Analysts had said Wahid's initial climbdown threatened to undermine his credibility and sent worrying signals about the stability of Indonesia's first democratically elected government.
The reports that Wiranto would go gave heart to the country's financial markets, sending the rupiah higher.
"It was very positive news from the market. When people saw the headline that Wiranto had been removed the offshore players started selling dollars," said a trader at a European bank in Jakarta.
The rupiah was quoted at 7,275/7,305 to the dollar in late local trade on Friday.
But there were still lingering concerns about how Wiranto would react.
"I'm quite optimistic that Gus Dur (Wahid) will be able to overcome the matter, but perhaps for now the market will react cautiously and keep an eye on Wiranto's reaction," said David Chang, the head of research at Trimegah Securities.
Wahid denied there had been any change of mind, but he has a penchant for springing surprises, fuelling criticism by some that he lacks the serious presidential style needed to pull the country out of its political and economic turmoil.
But others say it is one of the few tools for a relatively weak civilian leader to throw opponents off-balance.
The confrontation with Wiranto marks a crucial step in Wahid's attempts to increase his grasp on power after only four months in the job and at a time when the country continues to face mass unrest and economic hardship.
More than two years of political turmoil has already cast the once-powerful military as the "bad guy".
Analysts say the military realises it must co-operate with Wahid's civilian government if it stands any chance of repairing its image, which took another severe hit from the bloodshed and violence that it backed after East Timor voted last year to end a long and often brutal Indonesian rule.
- Reuters