Cabinet reshuffle no slap in ICMI's face: Habibie
Cabinet reshuffle no slap in ICMI's face: Habibie
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto's decision to drop Satrio Boediardjo Joedono from the cabinet has nothing to do with Joedono's membership in the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI), its chairman B.J. Habibie said yesterday.
"There is no connection whatsoever," Habibie told reporters after accompanying Yemen Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Kader Bajaman to pay a courtesy call on President Soeharto.
Joedono was one of several ministers in the Sixth Development Cabinet closely identified with ICMI, which has been seen as an increasingly influential lobby group. He lost his job as trade minister on Wednesday after the President decided to merge the ministries of trade and industry into one agency.
Habibie explained that the merger was something that had long been planned in anticipation of the increasing economical challenges Indonesia faces. The President had been waiting for the right time, Habibie added.
Political analyst Amir Santoso said on Wednesday that the reshuffle refuted the myth about the political clout Habibie and his camp wield.
"The President is still putting strategic interests above the interests of certain groups," Amir said. "I don't think there is any reason for people around Habibie to feel disappointed."
Another analyst, Riswandha Imawan, said the timing of the announcement, on the eve of ICMI's congress, was meant to show that the President is independent when it comes to any single political force.
Most other analysts and politicians, however, saw the reshuffle as an economic strategy rather than a political move.
Ismail Hasan Metareum, chairman of the United Development Party, said the changes were intended to strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of the cabinet. There were no political grounds, he said.
Amien Rais, chairman of Muhammadiyah and a deputy in ICMI, said he believed the decision was taken after long and careful consideration. Soeharto, Amien noted, "never plays around when it comes to removing a minister".
Former environmental minister Emil Salim, also a leading ICMI figure, said the reshuffle should be seen in the context of Indonesia's preparations for the advent of free trade arrangements, first within Southeast Asia and later the Asia Pacific region.
Chairman of the Supreme Advisory Council Sudomo and a close confidant of Soeharto, admitted that he was surprised by the move because never before has the President changed his cabinet midway through term. "But the economic reasoning was the basis of the change. I don't see any political motive behind it."
Business leaders greeted the merger of the two ministries as serving their interests in helping to bolster the country's export performance.
Bambang Trihatmojo, who is also the son of the President, believes that one ministry less should mean less bureaucracy for the business community to face. "It is in the field that matters most. We will have to wait and see."
Bambang Yoga Sugama also said that the merger was a government move to "optimize" the tasks previously handled by the two ministries.
He likened the government move to a pass in a soccer match. "Now, it is up to the entrepreneurs to pick up the ball," he said, underlining the role of the business community in bolstering exports.
Coordinating Minister for Industry and Trade Hartarto meanwhile said that with the merger, "we hope our economy will become efficient and exports strengthened".
State Minister of Administrative Reforms T.B. Silalahi meanwhile promised that not a single worker will be laid off as a result of the merger.
"We still need more civil servants," he said, adding that his office had set up a team to study the merger. (imn/har/rms/emb)