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Web-only Exclusives
November 30, 2000

From Our Correspondent: Hirohito and the War
A conversation with biographer Herbert Bix

From Our Correspondent: A Rough Road Ahead
Bad news for the Philippines - and some others

From Our Correspondent: Making Enemies
Indonesia needs friends. So why is it picking fights?

Asiaweek Time Asia Now Asiaweek story

NOVEMBER 19, 1999 VOL. 25 NO. 46

His, and ASEAN's, Way
Some Hindu groups are outraged but New Delhi keeps calm
By AJAY SINGH and SANJAY KAPOOR New Delhi

His may not yet be a well-known face in ASEAN, but at least his policies are reassuringly familiar. On his "getting acquainted" Nov. 6-9 tour of Southeast Asia, Indonesia's new president Abdurrahman Wahid reiterated his respect for the grouping's policy of non-interference. "For me, the only thing that counts is that each state has sovereignty," he told foreign journalists before setting off on the first overseas trip of his 17-day-old administration. Though he had said he wanted to make China his first visit, Wahid instead decided to call on eight of Indonesia's neighbors, covering two countries a day.

    ALSO IN ASIAWEEK
Malaysia
Mahathir calls elections. How will the ruling coalition fare?

China
Behind the continuing Falungong crackdown
• One opinion
Ban them, but not this way

Indonesia
President Wahid goes a-courting

India
Political ramifications of the Pope's visit

Pakistan
A conference called by "Jihad International"

Thailand
Thailand's army is undergoing changes -- for the better
• Elsewhere
Other Asian armies are in a state of flux as well
• Interview
Prime Minister Chuan as defense minister

Viewpoint
Donald Tsang Yam-kuen on the importance of finishing what we've started

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The Fight for Megawati Behind the scenes of the V.P. election
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Cover: Maneuvering to the Top
In a dramatic twist, Abdurrahman Wahid becomes Indonesia's leader. Can he rule?

Indonesia: The Road To Rejection The events surrounding Habibie's fall

For the past two years, Jakarta had been firmly focused on its own turbulent political transition. With a new democratic mandate, Wahid clearly wants to return Indonesia to the regional stage - in his own way. He envisions closer cooperation between China, India and Indonesia, supported by Japan and Singapore's "capital formation, managerial skill and technical know-how." In Kuala Lumpur, he listened to Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad's idea of an East Asian Monetary Fund. (Wahid said Indonesia was positive about anything that benefited the region.) Wahid also pressed on with a pet project: becoming East Timor's best friend. "He has asked Thailand to support East Timor if it wants to join ASEAN," said Thai government spokesman Akapol Sorasuchart after the Indonesian president's 40-minute meeting with Thai PM Chuan Leekpai.

This was, for many, a first encounter with Wahid's frank, spontaneous, even idiosyncratic personality. "Some leaders do not want East Timor as part of ASEAN," said Cambodian PM Hun Sen, startled by Wahid's initiative. An open invitation to Singapore Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew to advise Indonesia's economic recovery also came as a surprise. While he steered clear of the Anwar Ibrahim case in Malaysia, the president publicly stated his wish to meet with Myanmar opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi - a request Yangon greeted with a stony silence. "I would like to know the two sides," he explained. "What the government says I will listen to. What Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi says, I will listen to. But I don't like to interfere in the affairs of the Myanmarese." (In the end, he did not see Suu Kyi.)

Wahid would not be Wahid if he did not play both - or all - sides. In a speech that repeated his commitment to free-market principles and foreign investment, he told an audience in Singapore Nov. 6 that a focus on developing Asia did not mean ignoring the wealthy West. "We must be careful not to sacrifice our relationships with other parts of the world," he said.

Nonetheless, investors largely view Indonesia with caution. And with reason. As Wahid jetted, communal unrest flared up again in parts of Maluku province. Even more worrying for Jakarta were the hundreds of thousands of Acehnese who rallied in their restive province's capital Banda Aceh in support of a referendum. The protest, the largest ever demanding self-determination, woke most Indonesians up to how deeply the province had been affected by military suppression - and how difficult it will be now to win it back. Throughout his trip, questions about Aceh's future dogged Wahid, who has said he supports the principle of a referendum. Answering Indonesian journalists in Phnom Penh, Wahid said he believes that Acehnese will never choose to secede from a republic they helped found. "I know the people of Aceh," he said. Establishing a new role for Indonesia in Asia may be the least of the tasks facing Wahid. At home, he has fires burning.

With bureau reporting

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