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)