Amien warns Gus Dur to keep Cabinet intact
JAKARTA (JP): People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais cautioned President Abdurrahman Wahid on Thursday that further changes to his economic team would be political suicide.
He said the President should learn from the financial market consequences of his decision to fire Yusuf Kalla and Laksamana Sukardi as minister of industry and trade and state minister of investment and state enterprises development respectively. He noted the subsequent fall in the rupiah's value.
Amien was responding to speculation of another Cabinet reshuffle targeting Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industry Kwik Kian Gie and Minister of Finance Bambang Sudibyo, who is also a member of the National Mandate Party (PAN) which Amien chairs.
"If he (Abdurrahman) dares to fire Pak Kwik who is very honest and has worked hard to build our country's economy, and Pak Dibyo who is quite qualified, I am sorry to say that the government would be digging its own grave," Amien said after opening a PAN meeting at the Bidakara building in South Jakarta.
The Assembly speaker asserted he would not tolerate the dismissal of Kwik and Bambang, who he described as excellent ministers.
Amien presided over the one-day meeting which was aimed at discussing the party's five-year program, including preparations for the next general election in 2004.
Minister of National Education Yahya Muhaimin was the only PAN Cabinet member to attend the event. Bambang accompanied the President to a concurrent consultative meeting with the House of Representatives (DPR).
The President named Lt. Gen. (ret) Luhut Panjaitan and Rozy Munir, a senior member of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), as the replacements for Golkar member Kalla and Laksamana of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).
Amien regretted the President's action of dismissing the ministers without prior consultation with PDI Perjuangan chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri and Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung.
Amien also rebuked Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab, who is one of the President's confidants, for his statement on Wednesday that the Cabinet would undergo a massive reshuffle in August. The 700-member Assembly will convene that month.
"Now all ministers have lost their spirit for the job, because it is useless for them to work hard if they will be replaced before August," Amien said.
Without mentioning any names, Amien alleged there were attempts by some ministers to control state-owned companies by placing their associates and relatives as top executives in the firms.
"I am entirely against the manner in which the government has shaken up the management of state companies without clear reasons," he said,
"There are directors at state companies that were replaced after only a few months in their positions and not because they were involved in corruption or were incompetent. The real reason was to put the cronies, relatives and family members of some political leaders in the companies."
"This is a new regime of corruption, collusion and nepotism," he pointed out.
He reiterated previous statements that corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN) under the six-month-old government were more rampant than during the regime of president Soeharto.
"Soeharto needed from 10 years to 15 years to practice KKN, but this government just needs several months," Amien said.
"My heart is wrenched at observing all this irregularity and seeing how the tree of corruption, collusion and nepotism is growing robustly."
Amien, however, did not name the state enterprises in which directors were inappropriately replaced.
The government, through the office of the state minister for investment and state enterprise, has so far replaced the president of state-owned electricity company PT PLN and changed the board of directors and commissioners of oil and gas firm PT Pertamina, Bank BNI, domestic call provider PT Telkom and international telephone operator PT Indosat. (cst/prb)