Ministers begin feeling heat on cabinet reshuffle rumors

Ministers begin feeling heat on cabinet reshuffle rumors

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Justice Muladi said yesterday that
he did not know to what extent the cabinet would be reshuffle,
but those who were obviously being replaced were feeling the
heat.

"All ministers in the Seventh Development Cabinet have to be
ready for the reshuffle. I personally don't just who will be
included in it, but I'm sure they are already feeling it," he
said in Semarang, Central Java, yesterday.

Muladi maintained that everyone who had been selected for the
cabinet last March should be ready and accepting of a reshuffle.

He said the reshuffle could be both a change in ministers or
even a restructuring of the whole cabinet.

House Of Representatives Speaker Harmoko said after meeting
with Soeharto on Saturday that the President would soon reshuffle
the cabinet.

No details were given on when this would happen or what
positions would be affected by the reshuffle.

No clear reason was given for such a drastic measure with the
two-month old cabinet, which has left the past two days full of
speculation.

"Since we need a strong cabinet, the President has decided to
change and reshuffle the cabinet," was the only grounds given by
Harmoko on Saturday.

The decision could be the most drastic and earliest reshuffle
conducted during Soeharto's presidency.

Muladi told journalists yesterday that a ministerial post was
a mandate and a trust bequeathed to an individual, thus that
person should be ready to be judged and have their post taken
away from them if deemed necessary.

"This means that if the people judge that an individual has
failed, well then he or she should be placed back in the pen," he
remarked as quoted by Antara.

Muladi hailed the decision as an important move to regain the
public's trust in the government and also lessen the glare of the
international spotlight which had been heavily focused on
Indonesia.

But he seemed pensive when asked whether or not the move would
rekindle the public's declining trust.

"Well it (the reshuffle) is a very important move, something
which has been demanded by the people, and the President has
grasped these aspirations," he said.

When pressed further on whether the reshuffle was to deter
accusations of nepotism, Muladi said he thought it could have
something to do with it.

"I don't really know what was delivered by Pak Harmoko, which
was said by the President," he added.

Separately, the dean of Diponegoro University's School of
Governmental Law School, Soehardjo, questioned the decision to
reshuffle the cabinet and wondered whether it would really help
resolve the dire problems faced by the country.

"Judging by the people's demands so far, it really hasn't been
a reshuffle of the cabinet that is being demanded, but calls for
reform in the political, economic and legal fields," he said.

He argued that a reshuffle would only supplement the people
within the cabinet and not replace the basic policies being
pursued. Thus things would probably continue running the way they
already were, he added.

Soehardjo, who was a legislator from 1987 to 1992, added that
the President should be more willing to listen to the House of
Representatives and the Supreme Advisory Council during the
initial selection process of the cabinet.

He added that the President should also be firm with his
ministers no matter how close their personal relationship might
be.

"The President should not feel abashed. If a person hasn't
done a good job, even though that person may be personally close
to the President, then that person shouldn't be selected," he
said. (mds)