Leading figures call for immediate Cabinet shake-up

Leading figures call for immediate Cabinet shake-up

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Calls for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to quickly shake up
his Cabinet received more support on Thursday as senior
politicians insisted that confidence in the economic team had
dwindled.

Former Golkar Party leader Akbar Tandjung said the financial
market was losing trust in the government's ability to improve
Southeast Asia's largest economy, which is struggling to deal
with the severe impact of the rising international oil prices and
an ailing rupiah, which plunged to a four-year low earlier this
week.

"Why wait until October, because now is the crucial moment and
we can't afford to see things get worse," said the former House
of Representatives speaker during a discussion.

Susilo announced during a gathering of Asian and European
editors, organized by the Konrad Adenaur Foundation and The
Jakarta Post, here on Monday that he would evaluate the
performance of his ministers in October as had been initially
planned.

Akbar asserted that the government was facing a negative
perception problem because the economic ministers did not seem to
be doing their jobs properly, and thus the technical economic
solutions to resolve the current woes of the rupiah and the
fiscal indices were not the answer.

"No matter how good the solutions may sound, the market
players will not respond positively because they have perceived
the current ministers to be ineffective. Fresh faces with better
quality will mend that perception," he said.

Akbar's sentiment was shared by former state minister for
development planning Kwik Kian Gie, who said the President should
be decisive to stop this economic bleeding.

"Susilo must remain consistent to his promises to replace any
ministers who turn out to be a failure, especially when economic
observers and the media were heavily criticizing how things had
become," Kwik said.

Both Akbar and Kwik said the decision to reshuffle the Cabinet
was the President's prerogative, and that Vice President Jusuf
Kalla should not to interfere, let alone force the President to
accept his opinions on who would be replaced.

But Kalla told reporters on Friday that there would be no
Cabinet changes in October, saying that what the President would
do was evaluate the performance of his ministers.

He was quoted by detik.com news portal as saying that a
minister would only be replaced if he or she made grave mistakes.

He further explained that cutting back on the fuel subsidies
and raising the prices of gasoline and diesel would be more
effective in resolving the current fiscal problem and the
rupiah's woes.

Kalla leads the Golkar Party, the same party as Coordinating
Minister for Economy Aburizal Bakrie. Golkar is the largest
party in the House of Representatives, and thus plays a crucial
role.

Aburizal, also a businessman like Kalla, has been a target of
criticism for the current economic mess. Many have also
suggested that Minister of Finance Jusuf Anwar be replaced.

"Aburizal should be the first to be replaced because as a
coordinating minister, he's completely clueless about what should
be done. We need a coordinating minister with excellent knowledge
and practical skills," said Kwik.

Aburizal's alienation seemed to be evident when he was
apparently excluded in the formulation of economic policies that
President Susilo announced on Wednesday night -- a time when
Kalla was out on a visit to China.

"Don't be indecisive because the coordinating minister is from
Golkar. This is a national issue," said Akbar.