Cabinet of cacophony<\/p>\n
Few people know, perhaps, how busy the State Minister for the
\nNational Planning Board, Kwik Kian Gie, is inside the cabinet.
\nBut outside cabinet the Dutch-educated economist, who was
\ncoordinating minister for economics, financial and industrial
\naffairs in president Abdurrahman Wahid's government, is giving
\nthe impression that he is finding it difficult to get his message
\nacross to his ministerial colleagues. As a result, he is now very
\nbusy attacking government policy.<\/p>\n
To everybody's surprise, Kwik recently started his own TV
\nforum, called Kwik's Solution, which he uses as a platform to
\ncriticize the government's performance. He also opposes the
\ndivestment of Bank Central Asia, a stance he reiterated to the
\nKompas daily on Monday. But he should have voiced his opposition
\nin a cabinet meeting rather than going to the press. In this way,
\nhe could have tried to get his point across to his fellow
\nministers, although this would also have risked attracting their
\nhostility.<\/p>\n
Sources close to the cabinet said that President Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri had warned Kwik to refrain from making such sharp
\nstatements but he seemed to have ignored her instructions.<\/p>\n
Adding to the confusion, Coordinating Minister for the Economy
\nDorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti issued differing statements from Kwik
\nregarding the extension of the debt settlement program by the
\nFinancial Sector Policy Committee, as proposed by the Indonesian
\nBank Structuring Agency (IBRA).<\/p>\n
Confrontation looms, but before the President takes any
\npunitive measures against her own economics advisers it would be
\nwise for the ministers to bear in mind that his opposition in
\npublic is far from being polite or healthy. If a minister does
\nnot agree with a cabinet decision, he or she should either
\ncontrol the inclination to attack the government in public or
\nresign. A continued war against one's superiors will prove
\ncounterproductive and eventually backfire.<\/p>\n
However, if we peer more deeply inside the government, the
\ncase looks like just one part of a wider chaos. The peace
\nagreement between Muslims and Christians in Poso, Sulawesi,
\nending a long, bloody feud in December, is an example of another
\nkind of chaos. The agreement was reached due to relatively
\nsmooth, two-day-long negotiations in a cool mountain resort area
\nabout 70 kilometers southeast of the South Sulawesi capital
\nMakassar, mediated by Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare
\nYusuf Kalla.<\/p>\n
Kalla did his job well and the two warring sides signed a
\npeace agreement and promised among others to cease all conflicts
\nand disputes, abide by the due process of law.<\/p>\n
Kalla allowed 24 delegates from the Christian Red Group and 25
\ndelegates from the Muslim White Group to sign the agreement. They
\nthen shook hands and embraced. The delegates included religious
\nand tribal leaders, along with field commanders from militias
\nrepresenting the two camps.<\/p>\n
This was a great success for the region and the minister, but
\nin other parts of the country people were asking why the
\nCoordinating Minister for People's Welfare had led the peace
\nnegotiations and not the Coordinating Minister for Political and
\nSecurity Affairs, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Was this because
\nKalla comes from the island and Susilo from Java? In the current
\nsituation the question is not relevant, but it nonetheless
\nremains unanswered. Asking that kind of question has become very
\ncommonplace under the rule of President Megawati Soekarnoputri,
\nwho is well known for her inaction and her problems in getting
\nher message across.<\/p>\n
On another occasion Taufik Kiemas, the President's husband,
\nvisited his birthplace in South Sumatra to express sympathy for
\nthe victims of a natural disaster. He took with him not the
\nminister of social services, who would have been able to take
\nmeasures to alleviate the victims' suffering, but Minister of
\nResearch and Technology Hatta Radjasa. It remains unclear why he
\nmade the decision and what Hatta did to help the unfortunate
\npeople.<\/p>\n
Megawati does not seem to think it necessary to end this
\nchaotic farce. Her government looks like an auto-piloted plane
\nflying a course set by the IMF. Known for inaction, her last
\nquotable quote was \"Dunia belum kiamat\" (Doomsday is still far
\naway) when speaking about the national crisis -- a phrase least
\nexpected from a stateperson of wisdom.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/cabinet-of-cacophony-1447899208",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}