Amien warns Gus Dur to keep Cabinet intact

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)