Gus Dur's inner circle

Gus Dur's inner circle

Critics of President Abdurrahman Wahid accused him last week
of practicing his own form of cronyism when he enlisted two close
friends as top aides. Marsilam Simanjuntak and Bondan Gunawan,
colleagues from Gus Dur's days at Forum of Democracy, were
appointed respectively Cabinet secretary and secretary of
government supervision.

They, along with Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri and a
few, but not all, Cabinet ministers, make up the President's
inner circle team which will be decisive in policy formulation.
Since the President, who is almost blind, relies on input from
his aides, members of the inner circle will not only have
unimpeded access to him, but they will also be influential in the
making of policies coming out of the Presidential Palace.

Anything wrong with this picture? No, as long as the inner
circle team consists of people whom the President can trust, and
who share his vision. They must also be competent in their
appointed field. If they fulfill these criteria, they could
enhance the performance of the President, and therefore the
government.

Marsilam and Bondan appear to fit the bill. They and the
President go a long way back as staunch critics of the Soeharto
regime, long before they formed Forum for Democracy in 1990.
There is no doubt that when it comes to promoting and defending
democracy, they and Gus Dur share the same vision. With regard to
competence, time will tell if they are up to the demands of the
job, but the President must surely have considered this factor
before appointing them.

Given the current state of the nation, especially with
increasing criticism of the government's performance, the
President needs all the help he can get. Top of the agenda is to
strengthen his team. If he cannot reshuffle the Cabinet, then he
should at least be allowed to strengthen the makeup of his inner
circle.

It is clear that the President will encounter opposition if he
goes ahead with his plan, as widely rumored last week, to make
changes to the Cabinet. Gen. Wiranto, Amien Rais and Akbar
Tandjung, three of four powerful political figures who were
consulted by the President in forming his Cabinet last October,
have made it clear that they oppose the plan, even as they
recognize that it is Gus Dur's constitutional prerogative to make
the changes.

Their opposition to the reshuffle plan comes not so much
because they dismiss the need for it, but more because a
reshuffle would undermine their own political power base through
their links in the Cabinet. The Cabinet was formed in October as
a "consensus" among the country's major political forces. Gus Dur
thus consulted Wiranto representing the military, Amien (the
Muslim-based Reform Faction), Akbar (Golkar Party) and Vice
President Megawati Soekarnoputri (Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle, or PDI Perjuangan). Gus Dur himself represents the
minority National Mandate Party (PKB).

The Cabinet has since been popularly called the "National
Unity Cabinet" although it is not a term the President himself
would use. While the intention was noble, in retrospect the
decision to include representatives of all the country's five
major political forces has proven disastrous. Instead of unity,
we ended up with a divided Cabinet, with members having different
visions and agenda from those the President holds. Many ministers
are also acting as if they answer to their party bosses rather
than the President. The poor performance of the Cabinet in its
first two months of existence must take this into account; it
cannot be entirely blamed on Gus Dur. While there is a strong
case to reshuffle the Cabinet, one has to recognize that Gus
Dur's hands are bound by his need to enlist the support of the
major political forces to whom he owes his position. Governing
from a minority position, his options are inevitably limited.

Since Wiranto, Amien and Akbar appear bent on stopping Gus
Dur, a Cabinet reshuffle, if and when it happens, will likely be
minimal and cosmetic. Any significant improvement in Gus Dur's
performance will not come by replacing the Cabinet members.
Instead, the appointment of Marsilam and Bondan will likely have
a more far-reaching impact on the way the President manages the
government. If their appointment is summarily considered to be
cronyism, then we should have more of it. Regardless of the
snipes of the critics, Gus Dur should enlist more trustworthy and
prodemocracy members, including longtime friends, to round out
his inner circle.