Cabinet reshuffle no slap in ICMI's face: Habibie<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto's decision to drop Satrio
\nBoediardjo Joedono from the cabinet has nothing to do with
\nJoedono's membership in the Association of Indonesian Moslem
\nIntellectuals (ICMI), its chairman B.J. Habibie said yesterday.<\/p>\n
\"There is no connection whatsoever,\" Habibie told reporters
\nafter accompanying Yemen Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Kader
\nBajaman to pay a courtesy call on President Soeharto.<\/p>\n
Joedono was one of several ministers in the Sixth Development
\nCabinet closely identified with ICMI, which has been seen as an
\nincreasingly influential lobby group. He lost his job as trade
\nminister on Wednesday after the President decided to merge the
\nministries of trade and industry into one agency.<\/p>\n
Habibie explained that the merger was something that had long
\nbeen planned in anticipation of the increasing economical
\nchallenges Indonesia faces. The President had been waiting for
\nthe right time, Habibie added.<\/p>\n
Political analyst Amir Santoso said on Wednesday that the
\nreshuffle refuted the myth about the political clout Habibie and
\nhis camp wield.<\/p>\n
\"The President is still putting strategic interests above the
\ninterests of certain groups,\" Amir said. \"I don't think there is
\nany reason for people around Habibie to feel disappointed.\"<\/p>\n
Another analyst, Riswandha Imawan, said the timing of the
\nannouncement, on the eve of ICMI's congress, was meant to show
\nthat the President is independent when it comes to any single
\npolitical force.<\/p>\n
Most other analysts and politicians, however, saw the
\nreshuffle as an economic strategy rather than a political move.<\/p>\n
Ismail Hasan Metareum, chairman of the United Development
\nParty, said the changes were intended to strengthen the
\nefficiency and effectiveness of the cabinet. There were no
\npolitical grounds, he said.<\/p>\n
Amien Rais, chairman of Muhammadiyah and a deputy in ICMI,
\nsaid he believed the decision was taken after long and careful
\nconsideration. Soeharto, Amien noted, \"never plays around when it
\ncomes to removing a minister\".<\/p>\n
Former environmental minister Emil Salim, also a leading ICMI
\nfigure, said the reshuffle should be seen in the context of
\nIndonesia's preparations for the advent of free trade
\narrangements, first within Southeast Asia and later the Asia
\nPacific region.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the Supreme Advisory Council Sudomo and a close
\nconfidant of Soeharto, admitted that he was surprised by the move
\nbecause never before has the President changed his cabinet midway
\nthrough term. \"But the economic reasoning was the basis of the
\nchange. I don't see any political motive behind it.\"<\/p>\n
Business leaders greeted the merger of the two ministries as
\nserving their interests in helping to bolster the country's
\nexport performance.<\/p>\n
Bambang Trihatmojo, who is also the son of the President,
\nbelieves that one ministry less should mean less bureaucracy for
\nthe business community to face. \"It is in the field that matters
\nmost. We will have to wait and see.\"<\/p>\n
Bambang Yoga Sugama also said that the merger was a government
\nmove to \"optimize\" the tasks previously handled by the two
\nministries.<\/p>\n
He likened the government move to a pass in a soccer match.
\n\"Now, it is up to the entrepreneurs to pick up the ball,\" he
\nsaid, underlining the role of the business community in
\nbolstering exports.<\/p>\n
Coordinating Minister for Industry and Trade Hartarto
\nmeanwhile said that with the merger, \"we hope our economy will
\nbecome efficient and exports strengthened\".<\/p>\n
State Minister of Administrative Reforms T.B. Silalahi
\nmeanwhile promised that not a single worker will be laid off as a
\nresult of the merger.<\/p>\n
\"We still need more civil servants,\" he said, adding that his
\noffice had set up a team to study the merger. (imn\/har\/rms\/emb)<\/p>",
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