'Don't expect much from Cabinet'<\/p>\n
Scholars have warned the public that they should not anchor much
\nhope on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration, as
\nfrom the outset it has shown signs of incompetence.<\/p>\n
In their year-end assessment of political, economic and social
\naffairs for 2004, researchers of the Indonesian Institute of
\nSciences (LIPI) said, to date, the new administration's
\nperformance had been unimpressive and, moreover, it appeared to
\nbe at a loss as to what to do next.<\/p>\n
Syamsuddin Haris of LIPI's center for political research said
\nthat, although the administration had been handed political
\nlegitimacy, it failed to grasp what the public actually desired
\nand, so far, could not come up with a tangible program, nor
\ntargets that it could work on for the next five years.<\/p>\n
"Instead, we get the impression that each minister works
\nwithin their own framework, by drawing up programs relevant only
\nto their own field of work," Syamsuddin said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
LIPI is a government think tank, but has always been critical
\nof government policies.<\/p>\n
He said that, as a result of such blinkered vision, the
\nCabinet had spent its first few months in office engaged in
\nefforts to recognize and identify the country's problems.<\/p>\n
"In his first speech, Susilo said his Cabinet was still
\nstudying the country's problems. This is a setback. As part of
\nthe previous administrations of Megawati Soekarnoputri and
\nAbdurrahman Wahid, he should have grasped the problems earlier,"
\nSyamsuddin said.<\/p>\n
He also said that in the anticorruption drive, which tops the
\nnew administration's priorities, the President was only good at
\nmaking promises.<\/p>\n
"We barely see a focused, measured and integrated approach in
\nthe fight against corruption. The drive has been limited to
\nrhetoric and ritual," he said, adding that the only tangible
\neffort was the publication of state officials' wealth reports.<\/p>\n
He said that if the President had failed to gain momentum in
\nhis first three months in office, that would reflect poorly on
\nhis chances of success later on.<\/p>\n
And, "If he fails, then the House of Representatives, the
\nNationhood Coalition in particular, will have enough ammunition
\nto attack him," Syamsuddin warned, adding that the first strike
\nwould probably be launched soon after the government hiked the
\nprice of fuel early next year.<\/p>\n
Widjaya Adi of the institute's economic studies division
\nshared similar concerns, saying that coordination was the
\nCabinet's Achilles heel.<\/p>\n
"Coordination between ministers is poor. We were shown the
\nproof when one minister decided to raise the tax for the business
\ncommunity but another minister said it should be lowered. That is
\nnot a promising sign," he said.<\/p>\n
Widjaya also said the so-called shock therapy that the
\ngovernment had initiated early on would not last long, and was
\nonly carried out to meet short-term goals.<\/p>\n
"I am not sure that it will prevail after three months," he
\nsaid.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/dont-expect-much-from-cabinet-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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