Taufiq Kiemas is everything that Megawati Sukarnoputri, his wife of 28 years, is not. Megawati is an enigmatic Javanese; Taufiq is a blunt-spoken Sumatran. Megawati often appears to dislike the business of politics; Taufiq loves the nitty-gritty organization of it. Her favorite movie star is the hunky Mel Gibson; his is the cerebral Jodie Foster. There has never been a hint of scandal around Megawati. Yet another difference.

In fact, the scent of dubious deals around the wealthy businessman and parliamentarian is strong enough that some of Megawati's supporters fear President Abdurrahman Wahid could attack her husband in an attempt to stave off impeachment. Frans Seda, a Megawati adviser, says he received a strange call from Wahid a few weeks ago. The president just wanted to let him know that Taufiq was not about to get clapped in irons. In the battle for the top, some even fear Megawati's current allies could turn around and use Taufiq to deny her the leadership. Taufiq himself understands the concern. "In the old days they wanted to get to Mega so they said I was a communist," he says. "Now they say I am a capitalist."

Taufiq runs a string of eight Jakarta gas stations that he and Megawati own jointly. The stations and Megawati's inheritance have made the two of them among the wealthiest of Indonesia's political elite. In a report to the country's wealth audit commission, Megawati valued her assets at $5.3 million, including 12 cars, 10 motorcycles and 14 homes, estates and properties -- 17 times the value of Wahid's declared assets. Taufiq says the gas stations are his only business activity. He denies allegations that he has been a broker on behalf of tycoons in debt-restructuring negotiations with the government, or that he is involved in plans for new Jakarta toll roads, or a trans-Sumatran railway, or a highway in Irian Jaya. "Only the gas stations, that's all," he says.

Taufiq is not some political freeloader that has attached itself to the Sukarno name in the hope of getting to the top. He was an active supporter of Sukarno-style nationalism well before he married Megawati in 1973. His bona fides were tested in Suharto's prisons. He was jailed twice, once in 1966, just after Suharto's overthrow of Megawati's father, and again in 1970. "Every night, I thought I would be killed," he says. So while his enemies portray him as a man on the make, Taufiq says he is only a democrat who has paid the price for his beliefs. The truth can be complex. An observer who knows him well says Taufiq is like an old-style ward politician -- in the best and worst senses.

On a recent trip to Washington, Taufiq was fascinated with the work congressmen do to solve the problems of constituents. He also received some advice from a family friend, Paul Wolfowitz, former U.S. ambassador to Indonesia and now a deputy secretary at the Pentagon. Taufiq says Wolfowitz told him "something like this: "Don't touch business.' So now, I am not doing business with anyone." Sound advice for an aspiring first gentleman.