Indonesia's new Cabinet and its challenges

Indonesia's new Cabinet and its challenges

The Vice President's involvement in decision-making and the
treatment of the legislature as an equal partner of the
government are among the prerequisites for ensuring a good
performance by the Cabinet, says Jusuf Wanandi, Chairman of the
Supervisory Board of the Centre for Strategic and International
Studies.

JAKARTA (JP): At last Indonesia has an economic team that is
united in itself and has President Abdurrahman Wahid's full
support. This will allow the team to develop a coherent program
for rehabilitating and restructuring the economy. It will also be
able to implement this program because it is less likely to be
subject to presidential intervention.

But two things have to be done in order to bring about
success.

One is to get Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri completely
involved in the decision-making process, particularly as regards
the economy, mainly because there is no senior representative of
her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle on the team.

And her support is critical to get the government's program
through the legislature, which has become very assertive and
aggressive.

Second, due to the closeness of the team members to the
president, they should refrain from engaging in any corrupt,
collusive or nepotistic (KKN) activities. KKN has become enemy
number one among the public, especially students and civil
society, and there are accusations already (rightly or wrongly)
of KKN-related activities among the President's coterie.

The team under Coordinating Minister for the Economy Rizal
Ramli has had a good start, with confidence being inspired once
again among local business and international financial
institutions. The members of the team are considered as not being
antagonistic to the business community and as willing to
cooperate fully with the international financial institutions.

This distinguishes the new economic team from its predecessor
which often had strained, even antagonistic, relations with
business and the international financial institutions. Only if
the economy moves again in a sustained manner, can income,
employment and social safety net programs be developed.

Another important issue which must be dealt with seriously by
the new Cabinet is regional conflict. This should be done through
policy coordination when dealing with Aceh, Irian Jaya, Maluku,
and problems along the border with East Timor.

After 10 months in power, the government has as yet no clear
policies on these regional conflicts. There is a sense of drift
in the government's ability to coordinate and implement policies,
if indeed there are any.

The border problem with East Timor is the most immediate and
urgent issue because of its direct international implications.
The United Nations is still in charge of East Timor. The
militias' continued operations in East Timor are unacceptable to
the international community as well as to reformist forces within
Indonesia itself. The militias have been able to prevent the
return of a good part of the 100,000 refugees along the border
and continue to infiltrate into East Timor so as to create
turmoil and conflict.

In the case of Aceh, there does not seem to be anyone who is
responsible for following up on the humanitarian pause and for
putting the special status for Aceh into effect as decreed by the
People's Consultative Assembly. There have been many efforts on
the part of different agencies, including the Indonesian Military
(TNI) and the police, but there has been no clear plan nor any
clear indication as to who is in charge.

The same is the case in Irian Jaya where support for
independence among the people is becoming stronger, partly due to
negligence and partly due to bad coordination.

The tragedy of the horizontal conflict in Maluku, where some
elements of the Indonesian Military and the police are involved,
is another demonstration of inadequate attention and policies on
the part of the government.

With an effective coordinating minister in charge of political
and security affairs (and people's welfare) now in place, the
chaotic situation which has prevailed as regards resolving these
conflicts, which have been so damaging for Indonesia's security
image as well as its future territorial integrity, should be
straightened out immediately.

A National Security Council should be established soon and
should have a national crisis center to act as a vehicle for
monitoring all regional conflicts. Effective policies should be
developed by the Council and coordination and implementation
should be undertaken with the support of the said center.

The President has overcome the political attacks against him
in the Assembly due, in part, to his deft political maneuvers
and, in part, to the support of the Vice President. She did not
think it was a good idea to change presidents in mid-term as this
would create a precedent. Seemingly, she was also personally
unprepared to take over at this stage.

In addition, other political leaders and members of the elite
understood that there was no consensus on ousting Abdurrahman, or
Gus Dur, and, more particularly, on finding his successor.

As has been said above, however inadequate and irresponsible
the members of the House of Representatives are, and there are a
lot of them like that, it has to be recognized that they have a
say in policy formation through legislation and the national
budget.

Therefore, Gus Dur's efforts to overcome their animosity and
to take them seriously as partners of the government is important
for the democratic development of Indonesia, as well as for the
success of the current government.