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SCMP Reporter

President Suharto yesterday performed the ultimate unexpected act in a month during which the only certainty seemed constant surprise. He resigned.

 At about 10am Hong Kong time, Asia's longest serving dictator ended 32 years of iron-fisted rule with a short, simple speech to the nation. For once, he spoke in terms that allowed no room for manoeuvre through misunderstanding.

 'I believe it has become extremely difficult to continue the leadership of the Republic of Indonesia and to cultivate the development of this country,' he said.

 'Therefore . . . I have decided to hereby declare that I withdraw from the position of president . . . it is effective immediately.'   His voice was crumbling and he looked wan and tired after crisis meetings that ran through until dawn with military chiefs and his political allies - virtually to a man -suggesting in the most polite terms that he should go.

 The chance of his immediate resignation had looked ever more remote on Wednesday after his troops shut Jakarta down tight in an unprecedented show of force.

 As tanks, guns and 35,000 troops fanned out across the city to thwart a massive protest, he appeared to have bought himself a little time, if not a lifeline.

 The day before, he had promised reforms. Now he showed he still controlled the guns in what appears to be the nadir of his rule.

 Suddenly the opposition looked weak and diffuse, and the students so powerfully occupying parliament looked more and more naive by the hour.

 The surprisingly swift unravelling of his once unquestionable power is a fittingly unexpected end to weeks of twists and turns.

 Many people thought that Mr Suharto's vast military machine would never open fire on students - mostly sons and daughters of the middle classes and establishment elites. Yet last Tuesday, six died instantly amid a hail of bullets fired into the campus of the prestigious Trisakti University - shootings still unexplained but already apologised for by the military.

  Even old Indonesian hands suggested Mr Suharto would never tolerate in Jakarta the disorder that has wracked other towns and cities across the archipelago. Yet on Thursday, his troops and police stood by powerless as Jakarta descended into anarchy, arguably putting him under more pressure than he has ever faced.

 Chinatown burned and more than 500 people died in the worst rioting and looting seen in three decades. The social, political and economic costs could take months to evaluate.

 Perhaps it has been the students who have been responsible for adding the spark of unpredictability into the already volatile Indonesian mix.

 Quite simply, the last few months have seen them do and say things that no one ever previously dared.

 In the last weeks all manner of government, military and opposition figures have quietly used the protection of their rudderless, largely faceless movement to climb on the reformasi - reformation - bandwagon. You could see the utter surprise and joy on their faces this week as they wallowed in freedoms inside parliament previously unimaginable.

 Mr Suharto, for so long a figure of unbridled power and the ultimate possessor of Wahu - the Javanese concept of aura - was now a dirty cartoon; an effigy to be dragged around by the neck and trodden on.

 'Hang Suharto,' youngsters chanted as they leapt about on the beige seats of the main chamber of the institution he has long packed with stooges to ensure the stability of his New Order regime.

 'Tutut's a dog,' one said of the President's eldest daughter and monopoly queen Siti Rukmana. He was yelling like a banshee, protest bandana wrapped around his head, as he clambered up on the roof of a complex outside which any dissent until recently meant instant arrest.

It is tempting to believe their chants for freedom are as much about economics as politics. The collapse of Indonesia's staggering 25-year record of growth means they face the prospect of graduating into lives less salubrious than their parents'.

 But they also have articulated the desperation felt by the millions of people, many now unemployed, who must struggle ever harder to survive in the slums of Jakarta as food and fuel prices spiral.

 The poor have spoken too, using the rocks and fire of mob rule to deliver their message. Amid the uncertainty, there is a very real threat they will demand to be heard again in the weeks ahead.

 Mr Suharto, after all, has gone as president, but his New Order legacy marches on the in appointment of Bachruddin Jusuf Habibie as his replacement. For many this is also a surprise.

 Since his 'election' as vice-president in March, Mr Habibie has had a constitutional right to take power should Mr Suharto step down. Yet few could visualise how such an unusual little man could seriously be thought of as president.

 Mistrusted as much by the international markets as by the military, Mr Habibie is seen as the Dr Strangelove of Indonesian politics.

 Like Peter Sellers' famous mad scientist, he is prone to free-spending flights of fancy after years of engineering training in Germany.

 He has visualised national aeronautical, ship building and satellite industries for a country which after years of stellar growth still earns less than US$1,000 (HK$7,735) per head a year.

 His political assets have always lain with his close relationship with Mr Suharto. A prodigal son, he has been under the wing of the family since he was 15 and is considered the former president's most loyal confidant and the one who will protect the family in years to come.

 One recent picture showed him sitting in the sidecar of Mr Suharto's Harley Davidson as the pair sped around his ranch in Bogor in an attempt to relax from the pressures of economic meltdown. He is the keeper of the New Order flame and the man who must somehow engineer a task historically unprecedented - the dignified departure of a despot.

 Overall, the one thread of conviction running through the tumult lies with the military. Its power as Indonesia descends into weeks, possibly months, of political vacuum cannot be underestimated.

 Commander-in-Chief General Wiranto loomed as a formidable figure indeed as he announced to the nation yesterday morning that his forces had 'honourably accepted' Mr Suharto's resignation.



The only certainty was uncertainty