No ex-military ministers, urge experts<\/p>\n
Ridwan max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
Two experts have called on president-elect Susilo Bambang
\nYudhoyono, popularly known by his initials SBY, to avoid
\nappointing individuals with a military background to his Cabinet
\nin the interests of professionalism and democracy.<\/p>\n
Al Fitra Salam, a political expert at the Indonesian Institute
\nof Sciences (LIPI), said most of Susilo's constituents had high
\nhopes for change and improvement.<\/p>\n
\"The people did not care about Susilo's military background
\nand the numerous ex-generals in the Susilo-Kalla campaign team,
\nbut they have very high expectations that Susilo will make
\nchanges as he promised during the presidential campaign,\" Fitra
\ntold The Jakarta Post here over the weekend.<\/p>\n
He added such changes would be attainable only if the new
\npresident appointed professionals to his Cabinet.<\/p>\n
\"SBY should bear in mind that a majority of people have been
\ndeeply traumatized by former president Soeharto's militaristic
\nNew Order regime,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Susilo thus needed prove that despite his military background
\nhe was committed to civilian supremacy and democratic principles,
\nand his Cabinet lineup would be the key indicator of this
\ncommitment.<\/p>\n
Fitri pointed to former American president Dwight D.
\nEisenhower as an example, as he had governed according to
\ndemocratic principles, despite being ex-military.<\/p>\n
Separately, Harun Alrasid, an expert of constitutional law at
\nthe University of Indonesia, said while it was Susilo's
\nprerogative to appoint his aides, appointing unprofessional
\nministers would affect his administration's performance and
\ncredibility.<\/p>\n
\"The duties of the home ministry should be entrusted to a
\ncivilian who has expertise in public administration and regional
\nautonomy. If the job is given to an ex-serviceman as has been
\ndone in the past, the domestic political situation will remain
\nunstable and the implementation of regional autonomy would
\ncontinue to raise troubles,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He added the next defense minister should be a civilian, and
\nSusilo should encourage the completion of internal military
\nreform, including reviewing the newly endorsed Indonesian
\nMilitary bill. Further, in line with reform, the military should
\ngo back to the barracks.<\/p>\n
Harun said Susilo needed to form a strong government to face
\nthe House of Representatives, which was dominated by the
\nNationhood Coalition of major parties that had not supported
\nSusilo's presidential bid.<\/p>\n
Fitra and Harun agreed that Susilo should give top priority to
\neradicating corruption in his initial 100-day program.<\/p>\n
\"Soeharto will be the litmus test for Susilo in his war on
\ncorruption, since it was not handled properly by Susilo's three
\npredecessors -- B.J. Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri,\" they said.<\/p>\n
The two also called on the president-elect to set up an
\nindependent team to supervise regional autonomy to avoid discord
\nbetween the central and local governments.<\/p>\n
Harun added disharmony would continue between the central and
\nlocal governments, and between governors and regents\/mayors
\nbecause of the \"unitary state\" concept behind the newly revised
\nRegional Autonomy Law.<\/p>\n
\"The unitary state system is too idealistic for the large
\nIndonesian archipelago with our three time zones. Indonesia
\nshould adopt federalism as in the United States, Australia,
\nMalaysia and Germany to make immediate progress. If federalism is
\nadopted now, results could be seen in the next 10 years.\"<\/p>\n
The unitary state system will not produce results within the
\nnext 50 years, he said, as was apparent in the 59 years since
\nindependence.<\/p>",
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