Megawati's silence is not always golden
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who has been at the helm for three months, is yet to exert her best, observers say.
They point out that Megawati's major weakness lies in her reluctance to take a firm command instead of relying heavily on her most trusted coordinating cabinet ministers.
"Her most noticeable style is her silence, which gives the impression that she lacks initiative. It seems that she depends too much on her three chief aides," said government critic Arbi Sanit from the University of Indonesia.
The three most senior aides that Arbi refers to are coordinating ministers for political and security affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, for economy Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti and for people's welfare Jusuf Kalla.
The Megawati administration is under scrutiny at the ongoing People's Consultative Assembly Annual Session.
Arbi said the Megawati administration lacked a sense of urgency as apparent from the unclear agenda on how she would pull the country from the economic and political abyss.
In her speech of accountability before the Assembly session on Thursday, Megawati cut her priorities from six, as she originally planned in August, to three: economic recovery, normalization of the political situation and law enforcement.
"The government seems busy but what it is doing is not clear," said Arbi.
But things were not that bad, Arbi said. Under Megawati, which has a coalition Cabinet, political tension has largely gone.
Sociologist Imam B. Prasodjo of the University of Indonesia pointed out that Megawati needed strong, fast-moving economic team work to cope with the paralyzing crisis.
"Good team work is important to compensate for Megawati's slow leadership style," Imam told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
The administration is also unresponsive to numerous social problems like the displacement of 1.3 million people due to social conflict in many areas.
Observer Anhar Gonggong said in fact Megawati had a formidable potential that she could exert to maximize her performance, namely charisma and her legitimacy.
Anhar said Megawati should live up to her rhetoric of being the defender of common people by addressing their aspirations.
"Her policy should be more people-oriented because her strongest support comes from the grass roots," he said.