Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has outfoxed his opponents again. Facing an insurrection within the Parliament, the president recently apologized for past behavior and then delegated many of his duties to Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri. It is a shrewd move by the wily Mr. Wahid. Whether it is good for Indonesia, which desperately needs real leadership, is another question.
Since taking office nine months ago, Mr. Wahid has made few friends. He has shuffled his Cabinet seemingly at random, accused ministers of corruption without providing evidence and zig-zagged on policy without making much progress on the big issues that confront Indonesia -- corruption, separatist violence and how to achieve economic recovery. That is no way to govern, especially when he heads a fractious coalition and his party holds just 11 percent of the seats in Parliament.
There were fears that parliamentarians would mount a constitutional coup against the president when they held their annual meeting earlier this month. Even though the constitution does not give the National Assembly the power, opponents of Mr. Wahid were thought to be contemplating a scheme that would replace him. To head off a revolt among lawmakers, Mr. Wahid apologized to the Parliament and said he would hand over the day-to-day tasks of governing to Ms. Sukarnoputri. He later declared that he would assemble a four-person team -- himself, Ms. Sukarnoputri and two other coordinating ministers -- to make key decisions. A Cabinet overhaul is expected now that lawmakers have wrapped up their session.