Cabinet to be 25-strong at the most: Gus Dur

Cabinet to be 25-strong at the most: Gus Dur

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid hinted on Friday that
the number of ministers in the new cabinet would be reduced from
the current 35 to a maximum of 25.

"There are thousands of resumes in my hands, but we only need
about 25 (ministers). And it would be even better if the number
could be less than that," Abdurrahman said after Friday prayers
at Baiturrahman Mosque within the presidential palace compound.

Gus Dur, as the President is popularly called, reiterated that
the final say over the structure and the lineup of the new
Cabinet would remain in his hands.

"I am sorry to say that drawing up the lineup of the Cabinet
is my prerogative as president," he said.

But he said that this weekend he would discuss the makeup of
the Cabinet with Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri and a team
of three ministers he had asked to assist him.

Sources at the House of Representatives (DPR), however, said
that the meeting would also involve House Speaker Akbar Tandjung
and Speaker of People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Amien Rais.

The sources also said that several ministries would merge to
form a more compact Cabinet, including the office of the Minister
of Tourism and Arts with the Ministry of Communication; the
office of the State Minister for Women's Affairs with the
Ministry of National Education; and the office of State Minister
of Regional Autonomy with Ministry of Home Affairs.

Abdurrahman said earlier that Minister of Mines and Energy
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, State Minister of Regional Autonomy
Ryaas Rasyid and Minister of Settlement and Territorial
Development Erna Witoelar had been assigned to draft the
structure of the Cabinet.

"God willing, the lineup of the new Cabinet will be announced
next Wednesday afternoon or next Friday at the latest," he said.

The lineup had initially been scheduled to be announced on
Aug. 21, but the President postponed it as he needed more time to
discuss it with Megawati and other political leaders.

Abdurrahman said earlier that 60 percent of the new Cabinet
would consist of professionals, while the remaining 40 percent
would be selected from candidates proposed by political parties.

He said, however, that those originating from political
parties would also have to be "competent".

Legitimacy

Meanwhile, Akbar Tandjung said that besides being competent,
members of the next Cabinet should also have "political
legitimacy."

Akbar, who is also chairman of Golkar Party, defined the
second requirement as meaning that prospective Cabinet ministers
should have political roots in parties that won substantial votes
in the last election.

But Akbar said that the final choice was the prerogative of
the president.

"Golkar is not in the position to influence the policies of
the President in determining the candidates for the new Cabinet,"
he said on the sidelines of a plenary session on the final day of
the Annual Session of the MPR.

Abdurrahman has said that the decision-making power in the new
Cabinet would reside in a group of four people -- the President,
the Vice President and two coordinating ministers.

DPUN

Earlier in the day, chairman of the National Business
Development Council (DPUN) Sofjan Wanandi said he welcomed the
demands that several extra-Cabinet advisory boards be dissolved.

"If the councils are no longer needed because the next Cabinet
ministers are good enough, it's fine," he said after a ceremony
presenting a Bintang Mahaputra Utama Award to former Australian
ambassador to Indonesian Richard Woolcott at the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs.

But he dismissed allegations that the councils had failed to
live up to the people's expectations.

"We have worked as efficiently as possible along with the
Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry to help
businesspeople recover," Sofjan said. (09/byg)