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)