HONG KONG -- Indonesia faces a more profound immediate national crisis than India or Japan -- but all three face the same basic political problem: They badly need an effective ruling coalition. In New Delhi and Tokyo, a coalition government is in place. In Jakarta, it isn't.
As the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) finally convened in Jakarta on Oct. 1, the as-yet unanswered question was: Who is to become the fourth president of the republic? Who will lead Indonesia out of its escalating crisis?
Many had blandly assumed that it would be Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of the first president, Sukarno. Her political party won 153 out of the 462 directly elected seats in the 500-member House of Representatives, more than any other single party.