Mutual-help Cabinet
The one-week delay in the announcement of President Megawati Soekarnoputri's Cabinet turned out to be worth the wait, judging from the integrity, professionalism and inclusiveness of her core working team finally unveiled on Thursday morning.
The misgivings many had harbored in view of the intense political jockeying and horse trading, turned out to be entirely unfounded. The ministers Megawati selected for what she called a gotong royong (mutual help) Cabinet, fully met market expectations while still accommodating the competing interests of major political parties to maintain a good rapport with the House of Representatives.
The core economic team is comprised entirely of highly professional technocrats of impeccable integrity, who the market, including the International Monetary Fund and other international creditors and investors, will feel very comfortable with.
Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-jakti, the new coordinating minister for the economy, was dean of the Jakarta School of Economics at the University of Indonesia before serving as Indonesian ambassador to the United States, a posting he has just concluded with high praise from diplomats and the mass media in Washington.
Another notable appointment is Boediono, a former central bank deputy governor who joined the Cabinet of former president B.J. Habibie as the chief national development planner. A low-profile, but hard-working and highly respected technocrat within and outside the country, Boediono will lend high credibility to the Cabinet as he, like Dorodjatun, is non-partisan.
Since he has no political party affiliation, Boediono will find it much easier to gain market and political acceptance, which is crucial for his task as he is in charge of the most pivotal elements of economic reform, which are vulnerable to practices of corruption, collusion and nepotism.
As the minister of finance, Boediono is in charge of fiscal management and overseeing the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), which plays a crucial role in bank restructuring and the recovery of about US$65 billion worth of distressed assets acquired from closed and nationalized banks.
Laksamana Sukardi, a highly-respected former banker, returned to his old position of state minister for state-owned companies in former president Abdurrahman Wahid's first Cabinet. Like Boediono, Laksamana's high integrity will greatly help his credibility in overseeing around 160 state companies, which have always been prone to corruption, collusion and nepotism.
Kwik Kian Gie, who was named chief of the National Development Planning Board, was the chief economics minister in Abdurrahman's first Cabinet. Kwik is a highly vocal, yet respected technocrat. Though Kwik and Laksamana are leaders of Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, they command high market and political acceptance as neither of them ever exhibited partisan conduct during their previous stints in the Cabinet.
The appointment of Rini M.Soewandi, former chief executive officer of publicly listed PT Astra International, will certainly be thoroughly welcomed by the market. As a former senior executive at Citibank Indonesia, Rini will bring to her post a greatly valued treasure of well-rounded experience for pursuing business-friendly policies.
It is a great comfort to note that Megawati, despite previous apprehension that she might succumb to the political infighting, has successfully passed the first big test of her leadership abilities.
She asked for a little more time to be able to choose the right people. That is precisely what she has delivered in her first Cabinet. And most impressive is that her selections do not reflect any preferential treatment for her own political party interests.
The manner in which Megawati kept a tight lid on her selections was a well-calculated move to stamp her authority over the process.
In her introduction to the announcement of the Cabinet, Megawati candidly described the most pressing problems facing the nation in the economic, social, security and legal areas and rightly set the top priorities for the Cabinet's working programs to address those problems.
That clearly proves her complete understanding that a carefully selected Cabinet was crucial for regaining market confidence and maintaining the momentum of market optimism that blossomed immediately after the end of Abdurrahman Wahid's erratic style of leadership.