Jakarta - Sounding the death knell on Indonesia's authoritarian and military past, the newly elected president, Mr Ab durrahman Wahid, yesterday promised to decentralise control to the provinces and to attack the overriding power of the army. In his first major policy statement since coming to power last week, Mr Wahid said all areas of the sprawling archipelago of 17,500 islands would be given autonomy. He said the widespread violence over the last few years had that has left thousands dead was "completely unacceptable". He blamed the continued unrest on "the wrong government policies".
"We have to respect all the regions and what they want," he said. Speaking in Bali, President Wahid ruled out granting independence to any further provinces in the wake of Jakarta ceding East Timor. Mr Wahid was considering the unprecedented step of appointing an admiral as his new military commander, government sources said.