New Cabinet announced after tough negotiations
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
After a long debate, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono finally announced his Cabinet lineup on Wednesday night.
Called the United Indonesia Cabinet, Susilo's ministers come from various political parties and professions. They include some who served in the previous government, including Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, Hassan Wirayuda, Hatta Radjasa and Bachtiar Chamsyah.
"There are always pros and cons, but I realize that the lineup will not necessarily win the support of every party or satisfy everybody," Susilo said.
"Believe me, we have thoroughly discussed the lineup based on the criteria we have set. For me, it's not approval for or opposition to the ministers that matters, but their performance and hard work so that we can lead the country out of the crisis."
It took Susilo and his Vice President Jusuf Kalla almost four hours to finalize their ministerial team after presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng announced a delay in the announcement of the Cabinet from the scheduled time of 8 p.m.
While people were left guessing as to what was going on at the negotiating table inside Susilo's office, the President summoned five candidates for an interview. They included Bactiar Chamsyah of the United Development Party, who is a former minister of social affairs, Alwi Shihab of the National Awakening Party, social activist Nafsiah Mboi, economist Yusuf Anwar, former energy and mineral resources minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro and medical expert Siti Fadillah Suparman. The President had summoned 30 figures for interviews between Friday and Tuesday.
Kalla said he had participated in the interviews, particularly as regards those portfolios that were related to the economy.
Speculation was rife that contention among Susilo's allies had forced the newly inaugurated President to readjust his Cabinet lineup.
There were also reports that some of the ministerial candidates had planned to quit either because of antipathy to or opposition from other nominees. One of these was Sri Mulyani Indrawati, the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s director for Southeast Asia, who said she intended to withdraw her nomination due to mounting pressure against her.
There has long been anti-IMF sentiment among the public, in particular the Prosperous Justice Party and Crescent Star Party, two Muslim-based parties that supported Susilo's bid for the presidency. The PKS had even threatened to withdraw its support for Susilo if he picked "pro-IMF" economists.
Many expected that Mulyani could get either the job of coordinating minister for the economy or the finance portfolio.
The threats appeared to have an impact. By Tuesday afternoon, Sri Mulyani was no longer being penned in for either of the two most important posts in the economic team, and instead found herself being nominated for the lesser post of state minister for national development planning.
Meanwhile, the Suara Pembaruan daily reported that E.E. Mangindaan, a ministerial candidate from the Democratic Party, which Susilo co-founded, intended to withdraw his nomination, saying that he preferred to work in the legislature.
Political scientist Maswadi Rauf, meanwhile, said that accommodating every political interest in the formation of the Cabinet would do nothing to guarantee the subsequent effectiveness of the Cabinet.
He suggested that the political parties that supported the Susilo-Kalla ticket in the presidential election accept whatever choices the President made in forming his Cabinet.