Many observers rushed yesterday to criticise Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid for dithering and indecision in dealing with his defiant security minister; first demanding Gen Wiranto's resignation two weeks ago, then backing down on Sunday to "give him a chance", and finally, yesterday morning suspending him from the cabinet.
But the most important fact was that at the end of the messy affair, Indonesia's first democratically-elected president had prevailed: Gen Wiranto had gone from office, the threat of a coup had fizzled out, and the once-dominant Indonesian military had retreated in disarray.
Last night Gen Wiranto's successor as military chief, Admiral Widodo Adi Sutjipto, expressed the armed forces' backing for Mr Wahid, underlining the ascendance of the moderate Muslim cleric after four months at the head of a unity cabinet, during which he has sidelined military figures who for years controlled the levers of government.
Gen Wiranto was last month implicated, by an Indonesian human rights investigation team, in crimes committed by the Indonesian military in East Timor last year.
Two weeks ago he rejected a call from Mr Wahid, then on an overseas trip, to resign as Co-ordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs pending an investigation by the Indonesian attorney general into the accusations. Gen Wiranto refused to go until he had talked with the President directly.
The first opportunity occurred after Mr Wahid returned to Jakarta on Sunday, at a meeting in his palace also attended by the Vice-President, Ms Megawati Sukar noputri and the Attorney General. "I asked him to resign, but he said he preferred to be investigated by a legal process and I said, OK, we have to give him a chance," Mr Wahid said afterwards.
Later on Sunday the President changed his mind again and suspended his unwanted general.
"Wiranto's case is about law," he said. "We have to uphold the sovereignty of law as truly as possible. Therefore I did this to calm the situation and more importantly to prevent any assumption that the attorney general's team has been influenced by some parties."
A humiliated Gen Wiranto had to sit by yesterday morning and witness the Home Affairs Minister, Surjadi Soedirdja, being sworn in as his replacement. "The fact is that the President took a different decision today, I don't know why, but it's his right, and whatever the decision we have to accept it," he said, putting a brave face on what may be the end of a high-flying career.
A lot of the posturing over the last two weeks had to do with saving Gen Wiranto's face so as not to provoke a dangerous reaction, said one Jakarta analyst, who maintained that, far from being indecisive, Mr Wahid was intent on smoking out his enemies in a Javanese political drama full of typical shadowplay. Significantly no individual generals publicly rallied to Gen Wiranto's defence during his ordeal.
Others commentators said the affair was bungled. Ms Dewi Fortuna Anwar, a political analyst and one-time aide to the former president, Mr B.J. Habibie, said the two weeks had created unnecessary uncertainty and coup fears.
"Both are the losers here," she said. "And it was quite unnecessary and could all have been done in a more dignified way."
However it was achieved, Mr Wahid's final triumph over Gen Wiranto indicates to the world that he is serious about taking action against generals accused of human rights abuses in East Timor. This may have been the immediate intention.
The UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, arrives in Jakarta today to assess the credibility of the Indonesian investigation, and if he concludes it is not serious then the UN is empowered to set up an international tribunal to try Indonesian generals.
Other military leaders with hands bloodier than Gen Wiranto, who is accused of doing nothing to stop the abuses, would prefer a domestic court and are therefore willing to endure the humiliations piled on them by Mr Wahid's government.
Mr Annan will meet the authors of the Indonesian human rights report and also the Attorney General, Mr Marzuki Darusman, who will decide whether Gen Wiranto and other generals should be prosecuted for the campaign of intimidation, killing and destruction when East Timor voted for independence in August.
Yesterday it was reported that a pro-Jakarta militia commander had testified that East Timor's former governor, Mr Abilio Soares, told him before the referendum that all supporters of independence, including priests and nuns, should be "killed if necessary". The unidentified commander also testified that the Indonesian military supplied funds, weapons and direction for the violence.
The dumping of Gen Wiranto severs a direct link between the new government and the regime of Gen Suharto.
Gen Wiranto cultivated an image of moderation, but under his overall command soldiers shot student protesters in Jakarta in 1998, and committed abuses in East Timor, Aceh and other regions. When the military-backed dictator was forced to resign in May 1998, Gen Wiranto, then head of the armed forces, stood by his side to declare that he would loyally protect his former boss and family.
The Indonesian rupiah strengthened with the end of the two-week confrontation over Mr Wiranto which had created uncertainty in Jakarta financial markets.