Muslim leader chosen Megawati deputy

JAKARTA, JULY 26. Indonesian legislators today elected an unlikely deputy for their first woman President - a Muslim politician who has said women are not fit to lead the world's largest Muslim nation. The choice of United Development Party (PPP) chief, Mr. Hamzah Haz, underlines the potential instability in the fragile alliance that dumped Abdurrahman Wahid and replaced him with the daughter of the founding President, Sukarno, on Monday.

But Mr. Haz also provides crucial religious support that Ms. Megawati Sukarnoputri needs to survive in power - and only time will tell if he is a friend or foe, analysts say. Sources said Mr. Haz's relationship with Ms. Megawati is cool and formal.

``Megawati is very nationalistic therefore Hamzah Haz, theoretically, should provide a good mix,'' Mr. Lin Che Wei, head of Research at Sg Securities, told Reuters. Mr. Haz beat the parliamentary Speaker, Mr. Akbar Tandjung by winning 340 votes among the 611 members of the top Assembly who voted.

Both men embraced and kissed after the result as legislators cheered. Mr. Haz was sworn in later in the day.

Just hours after sacking the country's first democratically elected leader, the nearly one dozen parties involved began squabbling over the spoils, an early warning Ms. Megawati's coalition could become as fractious as Mr. Wahid's.

The PPP, the third largest party, had threatened it would not join the yet-to-be-announced Cabinet if Ms. Megawati's old job went to Mr. Tandjung, who also heads Golkar, the second-largest party and former political tool of the ousted autocrat, Suharto.

Ms. Megawati's Indonesian democratic party-struggle (PDI-P) is the largest but does not command a majority. PPP officials said Golkar already had enough power through holding the parliament Speakership.

Golkar is also still heavily tarnished by its links to Mr. Suharto.

After Ms. Megawati's party won the most votes in 1999's parliamentary election, Mr. Haz helped galvanise a Muslim alliance that crushed her Presidential bid because she was a woman, and then lost heavily to her in a run-off for the Vice- Presidency.

However, some analysts say his Islamic credentials could make a good partner to Ms. Megawati's more secular, nationalist views.

As the Supreme People's Consultative Assembly was meeting, Mr. Wahid prepared to leave the Dutch-built Presidential palace where he has remained holed up since being ousted. He will leave for the U.S. on Thursday for medical checks.

The selection of Vice-President has a crucial influence on the shape and tone of Ms. Megawati's administration because it reflects the forces and alliances she will have to factor in when she creates her cabinet.

Mr. Haz's election and Mr. Wahid's departure may also seal Indonesia's first peaceful transition of power, which would provide a welcome boost to the battered economy.

Stocks and the rupiah rallied on Mr. Wahid's sacking, but have since shed some of their gains amid a reassessment of Ms. Megawati. After the relief at the lack of violence comes growing concern about her so-far untested abilities.

- Reuters

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