Speculation of rift clouds reshuffle<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Two days have past, but by Sunday night President Susilo Bambang
\nYudhoyono had yet to announce the line up of the new Cabinet as
\npromised on Friday.<\/p>\n
Speculation was rife over the weekend that a rift had occurred
\nbetween Susilo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, leading to the
\ndelay.<\/p>\n
Central to the supposed conflict was the position of Aburizal
\nBakrie, currently the chief economics minister, following the
\nannouncement that the President had appointed the respected
\nformer finance minister Boediono into the Cabinet.<\/p>\n
However, it is not even clear when Susilo will announce his
\nlong-awaited new Cabinet.<\/p>\n
After addressing the closing ceremony of a UNESCO-sponsored
\ninternational conference on education on Sunday morning, he left
\nJakarta for Makassar, South Sulawesi, to address the opening of
\nthe Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals Association (ICMI) national
\nmeeting in the evening.<\/p>\n
On Monday and Tuesday, the President is scheduled to visit
\nYogyakarta and Magelang, Central Java, for other ceremonial
\nevents.<\/p>\n
Susilo will open the 2nd Junior Science Olympiad in Yogyakarta
\nwhile in nearby Magelang, he is scheduled to attend a ceremony at
\nthe Military Academy.<\/p>\n
The President is also expected to visit a Muhammadiyah junior
\nhigh school and hold a dialogue meeting with the Taruna Nusantara
\nHigh School in Magelang.<\/p>\n
Susilo told reporters on Friday in Medan, North Sumatra, that
\nhe had invited Boediono to become part of his new economics team
\nand that the new Cabinet would be announced in two or three days.
\nThe news cheered the financial markets, not only on the news that
\nBoediono, who is well-respected for his fiscal prudence, would be
\nin the Cabinet, but also that there would finally be an end to
\nthe months of uncertainty over the reshuffle plan.<\/p>\n
But considering the President's schedule of regional visits
\nover the next few days, the promise is unlikely to materialize as
\nsuch an important announcement would normally be made at the
\nState Palace in Jakarta, and in the presence of the Vice
\nPresident.<\/p>\n
There are concerns that a further delay could reduce public
\nconfidence in the government, which has been criticized
\nparticularly for the weak performance of its economics team in
\ndealing with the country's economic problems. No less than
\nSpeaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Hidayat
\nNurwahid urged the President on Sunday to immediately unveil the
\nnew Cabinet line-up. \"The President certainly must consider
\nimmediately implementing what he has promised. Don't let the
\npublic be continuously kept in uncertainty.\"<\/p>\n
The main sticking points for Susilo in reshuffling the
\nCabinet, observers have said, center on what to do with the
\ncurrent Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie,
\nwho is believed to be strongly supported by Kalla, chairman of
\nthe powerful Golkar Party, of which Aburizal is a senior member.<\/p>\n
To help improve the credibility and performance of the
\neconomics team, Susilo appears keen to put Boediono in charge, a
\nmove that may be opposed by Kalla, whom insiders said was often
\nin disagreement with Boediono when the two served as ministers in
\nthe previous government of Megawati Soekarnoputri.<\/p>\n
Some have suggested that Susilo would likely replace Aburizal
\nwith Boediono, and assign the former economics minister as
\nCoordinating Minister for People's Welfare.<\/p>\n
Others have said that Susilo may create a new position for
\nAburizal to accommodate Kalla's will by creating two new
\nportfolios: Coordinating Minister for Industry and Trade Affairs
\n(to be given to Aburizal) and Coordinating Minister for
\nEconomics, Finance and Development (to be given to Boediono).<\/p>",
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