'Bambang a liability to Mega'

'Bambang a liability to Mega'

JAKARTA: State Secretary/Cabinet Secretary Bambang Kesowo
sustained another blow as noted scholar Nurcholish Madjid called
him a liability to President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Nurcholish said on Thursday that Megawati should "seriously"
consider removal of Bambang from his post.

He said demands for Bambang's exit from the Cabinet raised by
House of Representatives legislators were strong enough reason to
view him as a liability.

Some members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle,
which Megawati leads, have also asked for Bambang's widening
influence in her Cabinet to be reduced.

Bambang, a government official in the New Order government,
was Megawati's close aide when she was vice president between
October 1999 and July 2001. -- JP