Kwik resigns ahead of Cabinet reshuffle

JAKARTA (JP): Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industry Kwik Kian Gie announced his resignation on Thursday ahead of an impending Cabinet reshuffle later this month.

Kwik said the resignation was to allow President Abdurrahman Wahid to freely restructure and reshuffle the Cabinet.

"Through this letter, I inform the President that I have resigned," Kwik said in a letter to Abdurrahman.

"My reason is that there has already been clarity and certainty that the Cabinet would be restructured and reshuffled," he said.

Kwik added that he fully supported the fact that the Cabinet reshuffle was the prerogative of the President.

Meanwhile, Abdurrahman said late on Thursday that after discussing it with Attorney General Marzuki Darusman, Minister of Law and Legislation Yusril Ihza Mahendra and State Minister of Regional Autonomy Ryaas Rasyid, he decided to accept Kwik's resignation.

"My conclusion is that I accept the request with gratitude for what he has contributed," the President told a news conference.

"This (resignation) shows his sportsmanship in allowing me to form a new Cabinet," he added.

Abdurrahman said that until a new Cabinet had been composed, Kwik would remain in his current post but would not make any strategic decisions.

He described Kwik as an honest, hardworking man.

In a related development, Minister of Finance Bambang Soedibyo said on Thursday night that he would not resign from the Cabinet, which was about to end anyway.

"I would still be willing to join the new Cabinet, but it would depend on what portfolio the President offered me," Bambang added after a meeting with his political mentor and Speaker of the People's Legislative Assembly, Amien Rais.

An informed source said that just like Kwik, Bambang had long been disappointed with the way Abdurrahman had been leading the government, pointing out that the President had often tried to bypass him in implementing economic policies, including a failed attempt to introduce a law requiring the chairman of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) to report directly to the President instead of to the minister of finance.

IBRA is a unit of the Ministry of Finance.

Abdurrahman, or Gus Dur, told the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the country's highest legislative body, earlier this week that he would reshuffle his Cabinet to improve the performance of his administration.

Abdurrahman announced the plan during the first day of the 10- day Annual Session of the MPR as he delivered a progress report on his 10-month-old administration. Legislators have criticized his management style as well as the ineptness of the existing administration in resolving the country's economic crisis, and bloody ethnic and religious clashes in certain provinces.

The President said he would announce a new Cabinet early next week, "immediately" after the completion of the Annual Session next Friday.

He added that 60 percent of the members of the new Cabinet would consist of professionals or technocrats who did not have affiliations to any political parties, while the other 40 percent would come from political parties.

Asked if he would reappoint Kwik in the next Cabinet, he said that appointing the members of the Cabinet was his prerogative and he would not disclose his plans.

Kwik, formerly a respected economist and strong critic of the country's powerful conglomerates, has been criticized by some as a weak administrator.

There was speculation earlier that Abdurrahman had planned to replace Kwik with Dorodjatun Kuntjorojakti, another noted economist and currently an Indonesian ambassador to the United States.

Kwik is also a senior executive of Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), the largest party in the House of Representatives.

Appreciation

Separately, PDI Perjuangan legislator Aberson Marle Sihaloho said that the party appreciated Kwik's resignation following the failure of the current economics team to make significant progress on the economic front.

"Kwik's decision has won support from the party because the party has long since proposed that the President replace the economics team," Aberson said.

He said his party would promote a political culture which supported the resignation of state officials who were considered to be failing in their jobs.

Meanwhile, Speaker of the House of Representatives Akbar Tandjung, who is also chairman of the Golkar Party, urged Abdurrahman to select professional people for the next Cabinet.

Akbar said that Golkar would fully support the next Cabinet as long as the government could improve its performance.

"Our main criterion for the next Cabinet is that its members must be professional in their respective portfolios and that all ministers can work well and in coordination with each other," he said.

Laksamana Sukardi of the PDI Perjuangan faction said his faction also expected the President to consider major factions in the Cabinet, in addition to the first requirement of professionalism.

"Despite the President's prerogative, the next Cabinet should reflect the strength of political parties in the House."

"Although the next Cabinet will be filled by professionals, the government will remain weak if fails to win support from major factions at the House," he said.

Laksamana was the former state minister for investment and state enterprises development whose sacking in April caused a nationwide controversy and prompted the House to exercise its interpellation right. (rei/byg/rms)