A conservative Cabinet

For much of the past week, the nation has been so consumed by speculating about who President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will pick as his Cabinet ministers.

The guessing game ended just before midnight on Wednesday with the announcement of the 35-strong Cabinet by President Susilo.

Why this becomes such a major national pastime with each new government is clear: The composition of the Cabinet is just as crucial as who is elected president in charting the course of Indonesia's development.

Our verdict: The United Indonesia Cabinet appears to be conservative, probably in more ways than one.

The inclusion of many old faces in the Cabinet, as well as of older -- rather than younger -- ministers, defies the reason Susilo was elected.

Most analysts agree that Susilo owed his landslide victory last month over former president Megawati Soekarnoputri largely to the people's desire for change. And many saw, or rather hoped, that Susilo would be a credible alternative to Megawati.

The presence of former ministers who served in either the Megawati or the Abdurrahman Wahid administration sends the wrong sign about the willingness and ability of the new Cabinet to make the necessary social, political and economic changes the people want.

Let us hope that the few new faces and next-generation ministers will prove us wrong.

At first glance, the Cabinet's composition looks like a good mix of people selected either for their professional competence or their political background. Both are equally important.

Since Susilo's small Democratic Party does not control the House of Representatives, he needed to recruit some politicians who could help push his policies through. That much is clear. What is less clear is whether he had picked the right politicians to serve the purpose.

There are also one or two individuals with dubious track records, but this was probably inevitable, given the compromises the President has had to make in selecting his Cabinet.

The bigger question that arose after the President announced his Cabinet does not concern the lineup so much as the process that led to his final decision.

Many of the individuals he selected appeared in various media reports this past week because they had been seen going in and out of Susilo's residence in Cikeas, Bogor. His team also leaked the names of interviewees deliberately to observe public reactions. If the President intended to give the impression of a transparent process, however, the final days leading up to the announcement remained shrouded in mystery.

It is obvious from the way names appeared and then disappeared in the prospective lineup that the selection process was far from smooth, tampered by various political forces and figures, including Vice President Jusuf Kalla. In spite of assurances that Susilo and Susilo alone possessed the authority to select his ministerial team, he continued to be subject to these political forces. This also explains why the announcement of the Cabinet on Wednesday was delayed by nearly four hours.

The final Cabinet lineup is the result of political compromises reached between the President and those who, rightly or wrongly, claimed to have helped him win the election.

It is difficult, however, to ignore the impression that Susilo may have made too many compromises. His remarking that he could not please everyone, as humble as it may have sounded, seemed to indicate a President who had tried hard to accommodate the various demands without putting his foot down.

Many inevitably see this as another sign of indecisiveness on the part of the new President, in spite of the huge mandate he received from the people to lead them in the way he sees fit.

Appointing ministers is really about picking the right women and men for the right job, not about appeasing the people, politicians or parties.

The President completed the unenviable task of putting together a ministerial team to help lead this nation of 220 million people for the next five years, and for good or ill, the Cabinet has been set. Only time will tell whether he did the right thing.

In the end, the Cabinet will be seen as Susilo's, no matter the influence others may have played in the selection process. It is his presidency, and it is his credibility that he has put on the line.

The President has made his decision. The least the nation can do now is to let him and his administration work and prove their worth. We wish them all a successful endeavor -- more for our sake than theirs.