Q and A: Wahid confident he'll finish term

CNN's Atika Shubert talks to Indonesia's President Abdurrahman about growing discontent over his administration.

Q: What mood was President Wahid in when you spoke to him?

Shubert: President Wahid appeared confident. He denied there was any real conflict with parliament, rather he blamed a few people in parliament for trying to push them out. He says the majority supports him, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority voted to censure him; he told us that was our interpretation of events.

As far as the demonstrations against him are concerned, he said his supporters outnumber those that are demonstrating against him. One of his big concerns now is that his supporters may clash with parliament if these calls for his resignation continue.

Q: Would you read that last comment as a threat?

Shubert: He voiced it as a concern, rather than a threat. But when we asked him how he responded to the violent actions of his supporters, Wahid told us that he didn't invite them to Jakarta, but he had to take them in. He also said he has been speaking to members of parliament. He believes he has convinced them to not to issue another censure, and to drop he campaign against him, and that in one week's time, the political impasse will be solved.

On Wednesday, there were reports that Indonesia's political parties were drafting a second censure motion against him. What does he say to this?

He believes that the second censure motion is not going to happen. Everyone may be thinking one thing, but he's confident the vote will come out in his favor. He strongly believes this.

Q: Why does he think this?

Shubert: Wahid seems to think there are a few select people that are moving against him, and he's been able to convince the rest of parliament not to join the campaign against him. Among the people he's been talking to is Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri. He maintains he has a good relationship with her, and they haven't fallen out, and she supports his carrying out his term until 2004, as long as he abides by the constitution.

On Wednesday, Wahid's Defense Minister, Mahfoud M.D. said Wahid would not step down unless he was seen to have violated the constitution. Wahid's spokesman later said the president had no intention of resigning.

Wahid believes parliament cannot judge him on whether or not he violated the constitution. For Indonesia, there has never been a process like this, no one has ever gone through an impeachment , so this is new, and he's questioned parliament's authority to question him.

Q: It doesn't sound like he's made his peace with parliament.

Shubert: No. He has written a reply to the censure, he will hold a cabinet meeting next Thursday to decide when and how the reply will be submitted to parliament. He has until May to submit this reply. Having said that, there are factions already moving against him, trying to draft a second memorandum. The main difference between the different factions is what kind of mechanism the second memorandum will be.

There seems to be common agreement that a second memorandum is likely, but the body needs to decide under what conditions the memorandum will be issued.

Q: Do you think that Wahid is getting information that is being screened by his supporters?

Shubert: I think it's difficult to say, I don't know what kind of information is being given to the president. But his closest friends and advisers, in fact his younger brother has admitted that because he is blind, he can't properly screen the information that he gets.

He's very reliant on a few key people to give him the right information. And that is definitely a weakness of President Wahid that his critics say will make him unfit to be president. But we don't know whether it's the information he's getting, or choosing to listen to.

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