Marzuki named new forestry minister

Marzuki named new forestry minister

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid named on Friday
Marzuki Usman as the new Minister for Forestry, replacing
Nurmahmudi Ismail who was sacked on Thursday night.

"As of today, Nurmahmudi Ismail has been honorably dismissed
and the President has decided to appoint Marzuki Usman as the new
Minister for Forestry," Cabinet Secretary Marsilam Simanjuntak
told a press conference at Merdeka Palace.

"Marzuki Usman is deemed by the President as being capable of
carrying out his new duties," Marsilam said, adding that Marzuki
would be officially installed on Saturday morning.

Marsilam said the presidential decree appointing Marzuki, who
was minister for tourism, arts and culture under former president
B.J. Habibie, made it clear the move "would improve Cabinet's
cooperation and coordination in the running of the government".

Marzuki, 57, was also investment minister during the last
months of Habibie's presidency.

Presidential spokesman Wimar Witoelar, who was also present on
Friday, said Marzuki's appointment had also been "made with the
knowledge and agreement of Vice President Megawati
Soekarnoputri".

When pressed to disclose the real motive behind Nurmahmudi's
dismissal, who is the former chairman of the Justice Party (PK),
Wimar said: "There are, of course, other considerations that
should not be disclosed."

PK is one of a group of Muslim parties that supported
Abdurrahman's election as president in October 1999 but later
turned against him and are now seeking his ouster through a
special session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

Earlier in the day, Nurmahmudi said he was dismissed for
refusing a presidential order to replace the ministry's
secretary-general Soeripto, who was accused by Abdurrahman of
plotting to oust him.

"I refused because (the order) for dismissal is based on
unproven accusations against Mr. Soeripto," Nurmahmudi told a
press conference.

Abdurrahman told Nurmahmudi that he had been informed by "very
reliable and honest sources" that Soeripto had met Maj. Gen.
Muchdi Purwopranjono, former chief of the Army's Special Force
(Kopassus), at the Kempinski Hotel in Central Jakarta, to plot
Abdurrahman's downfall, he said.

Soeripto, who was present at Nurmahmudi's press conference,
later admitted that he had met with Muchdi several times, but he
was quick to add that his meetings with the two-star general were
"only business talks regarding forest concessions".

Muchdi has been assigned to a desk job by the Army for his
alleged involvement in the abduction of student activists in the
final months of former president Soeharto's rule.

Soeripto, Nurmahmudi added, was also accused by Abdurrahman of
facilitating the escape of fugitive Hutomo Mandala Putra --
youngest son of former president Soeharto -- by using the
ministry's helicopter to help transport Tommy, as Hutomo is
popularly called, to "a safe place".

Tommy has been on the run since last November following a
Supreme Court verdict in September sentencing him to 18 months in
prison for corruption.

Nurmahmudi also disputed the President's allegations that his
vision and policies for forestry were unclear, cited by Defense
Minister Mahfud M.D. as among the reasons for his dismissal.

"I created a strategic forestry plan before the end of 2000,"
Nurmahmudi said.

He also said that, for the first time in its history, his
ministry had an up-to-date "solid" forestry map.

On Friday morning, Mahfud spelled out the reasons for
Nurmahmudi's sacking: "He does not share the same vision as the
President ... his forestry policies have been unclear and we do
not know in which direction the forestry sector is heading, and
he has been unable to control the PK."

Nurmahmudi said that, as a civil servant, he was no longer a
PK member and it was not within his capacity to control the
party.

Nurmahmudi is the second minister from the Muslim parties to
be dismissed by Abdurrahman this year after Justice and Human
Rights Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra, from the Crescent Star
Party (PBB), was dismissed in February.

The announcement of Nurmahmudi's dismissal came a day after
two politicians from the National Mandate Party (PAN), in the
same coalition of Muslim parties, chose to have their party
membership revoked in order to remain in the Cabinet.

PAN, chaired by Abdurrahman's fiercest critic, MPR Speaker
Amien Rais, dismissed Minister of National Education Yahya
Muhaimin and Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Al Hilal
Hamdi from the party on Thursday.

Abdurrahman has been under mounting pressure to step down
after being censured by the House of Representatives in February
for his alleged involvement in two financial scandals.
(02/byg/tnt)