Evaluations completed, Cabinet moves expected

Evaluations completed, Cabinet moves expected

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has finished evaluating the
performance of all his ministers, Cabinet secretary Sudi Silalahi
said on Tuesday, as expectations run high the President will
reshuffle the executive to boost its performance.

Sudi said that the results of the evaluations would be
announced after Idul Fitri.

"The evaluations have already been completed," he said as
quoted by Antara, moments before leaving the West Nusa Tenggara
capital of Mataram for Jakarta.

Sudi was in Mataram accompanying Susilo, who was opening
several development projects in the province. He declined to give
more details, including whether the evaluations would lead to a
reshuffle.

Susilo, who comes from the small Democratic Party but managed
to win in the country's first direct presidential election in
2004, has promised to evaluate the performance of his ministers
after one year in office.

Several surveys have shown public opinion is behind the
President immediately replacing poor-performing ministers with
professionals, especially members of the nation's economic team,
which has been blamed for the recent economic downturn.

Despite this pressure, there remains doubt whether the
President would dare reshuffle Cabinet. Several top officials of
Vice President Jusuf Kalla's Golkar Party, the largest in the
House of Representatives and the main supporter of the
administration, have suggested there was no need for a reshuffle.
Some said that if the President decided to reshuffle the Cabinet,
Golkar would demand more posts in it, pressuring Susilo to once
again pick politicians instead of professionals to head key
Cabinet portfolios.

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), another key supporter of
Susilo, however, claimed on Tuesday that the President would soon
reshuffle the Cabinet.

"We (the PKS executive board) have just met President Susilo
to convey our dissatisfaction with the government's performance
over the past year. And during the meeting, he pledged to
reshuffle his Cabinet shortly. He also vowed to accommodate the
PKS' ideas on administration and management," secretary-general
Annis Matta told The Jakarta Post.

He said the PKS had proposed a new, democratic mechanism to
recruit professional people into Susilo's new cabinet.

"Before the recruitment, the President should unveil his
agenda and all programs he wants to begin until 2009 and
determine the competencies (of cabinet members) needed to execute
the agenda and the work programs. Finally, he should hold dialogs
with all parties supporting his government, to seek the right
people with the requisite competencies," he said.

Annis said that PKS, the only Muslim-based party supporting
the administration, would withdraw its support if Susilo failed
to improve the administration's performance.

He insisted his party was serious with its threat because it
had been facing increasing political pressure from party chapters
and supporters who were angry about the fuel price hikes.

"PKS' executive board has been in a difficult position because
the party is obliged to defend the fuel price hikes while its
members are not involved in the decision-making process," he
said.

The decision to raise prices was made by Vice President Jusuf
Kalla's economic team.

PKS members of Cabinet are Minister of Agriculture Anton
Apriyantono, Minister of Public Housing Muhammad Jusuf Asy'ari
and Minister of Youth and Sports Adhyaksa Dault.