New Cabinet faces strong opposition

New Cabinet faces strong opposition

JAKARTA (JP): The new Cabinet has been criticized as having
ministers lacking in competence and being poorly supported by
major political parties.

People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais gave a
thumbs-down on Wednesday to President Abdurrahman Wahid's new
team, saying it was even worse than the old one in terms of the
quality of its personnel.

"I'm surprised that Gus Dur was not smart enough to learn from
past experience. It's regretful that he has wasted his last
chance," Amien told reporters in Yogyakarta, referring to
Abdurrahman by his popular nickname.

"I cannot hope too much from the new Cabinet, due in part to
its failure to accommodate major political parties like Golkar,
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and
others."

Abdurrahman's government came under fire at the recently
concluded MPR Annual Session for its failure to cope with the
protracted economic crisis and the threats of national
disintegration.

The appointment of Prijadi Praptosuhardjo as minister of
finance was an example of Abdurrahman's tendency to give room for
cronyism to live in the country, Amien said.

"Pak Prijadi twice failed to pass a fit-and-proper test for a
position at a state bank. How can we entrust the management of
116 state enterprises to him? I'm afraid his arrival at the
ministry will incite anger among his subordinates," he said.

The top job at the ministry of finance was formerly held by
Bambang Sudibyo, who is Amien's trusted man at the National
Mandate Party (PAN).

Amien also criticized Gus Dur's choice of Muhammad Mahfud M.D.
as the minister of defense to replace Juwono Sudarsono, who, like
Mahfud, is a civilian.

"When we are suffering crises in security and defense affairs,
Gus Dur named Pak Mahfud, who is my junior. I think he fits the
minister of justice more than his position now," Amien said.

Amien also said Abdurrahman had misplaced Rizal Ramli.

Amien said the President had not consulted him when drafting
the structure of the new Cabinet, not to mention its makeup.

Golkar, one of the major factions at the House of
Representatives, concluded the Cabinet lineup reflected the
strong wish of President Abdurrahman to treat the party as an
opposition one.

"President Gus Dur is positioning Golkar as an opposition
party. No problem and Golkar will remain critical of the
government," Syamsul Mu'arif, chairman of the Golkar faction at
the House, told The Jakarta Post by phone from Paris.

Syamsul, along with House Speaker Akbar Tandjung, was stopping
over in the French capital en route to an International
Parliament Union (IPU) meeting in the United States.

He said Golkar was not disappointed with Gus Dur's decision
not to reappoint party cadres Bomer Pasaribu and Mahadi
Sinambela. Golkar's support for the Cabinet, he said, would
depend on its performance.

"We will just wait and see how effective the new Cabinet is
in running the government. We will take action if the Cabinet
performs worse than in the past," he said.

Akbar recently said that apart from having professional
competence, the new Cabinet should reflect the political
constellation in line with the outcome of the 1999 general
election.

Several PDI Perjuangan legislators told the Post under
condition of anonymity they were upset by the new Cabinet lineup,
and pledged their preparedness to emerge as an opposition party.

But chairman of the party's faction at the MPR, Sophan
Sophiaan, played down the discontent among his party cadres,
saying it was better to give the President a chance for another
year.

The party's voice in the Cabinet now is represented by Sonny
Keraf and Bungaran Saragih, who were named state minister of
environment and minister of agriculture and forestry
respectively.

"We are not disappointed. It's a presidential prerogative,"
Sophan said.

He said that Gus Dur had taken professionalism rather than
party support into account when forming his new Cabinet.

Sophan questioned Abdurrahman's choice of Prijadi as finance
minister, but quickly added that the President had the right to
choose who he wanted.

Deputy chairman of Abdurrahman's National Awakening Party
(PKB), Taufiqurrahman Saleh, saw the new Cabinet lineup as an
effort by the President to build a strong system relying on
people rather than party support.

He also called on the public to give the new Cabinet a chance
to prove itself.

Criticism also came from political observer Ichlasul Amal of
Gadjah Mada University, who said Abdurrahman could have done
nothing apart from compromise when selecting his ministers.

"Compromise was almost unavoidable due to the President's
inability to deal with pressures from political parties," he
said.

He speculated that Abdurrahman was trying to ease pressure
from the House over the alleged misuse of State Logistics Agency
(Bulog) funds and financial assistance from the Sultan of Brunei
to help the government settle the Aceh problem.

"It's a dilemma for Gus Dur to recruit only professionals to
the Cabinet," he said.

He suspected political parties were looking for ministerial
posts to help them raise funds to cover their daily
organizational needs, particularly in the run-up to the 2004
general election.

Political analyst Aribowo of Surabaya-based Airlangga
University was also skeptical, saying the President had failed to
live up to people's wishes to see him recruit individuals with
integrity and competence to ministerial posts.

"Instead of accelerating economic recovery, the new Cabinet
lineup will create new problems," Aribowo said.

He said the lineup reflected Abdurrahman's preference for
listening to advice from his close confidants. The appointment of
Prijadi was one of many examples of Abdurrahman's stubbornness,
he said.

Aribowo predicted bitter rivalry between the President and
Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri on one hand and the
President and major political parties on the other, due to
Abdurrahman's failure to reserve adequate seats for the Megawati-
led PDI Perjuangan and the Golkar Party, which between them hold
273 of the 500 House seats.

Aribowo said he was sure the fact that Megawati failed to turn
up for the Cabinet announcement was a sign that the Vice
President did not welcome the new lineup.

Another observer, Hermawan Sulistyo, highlighted the
President's option for Mahfud as the minister of defense.

"He has never shown an interest in defense issues," Hermawan
said of Mahfud, a professor of constitutional law at the
Indonesian Islamic University in Yogyakarta.

Hermawan said given his educational background and close ties
with Gajah Mada University, Mahfud would be expected to
collaborate with the Center for Defense and Peace Studies at
Gajah Mada University which is chaired by education minister
Yahya Muhaimin.

"Yahya is well-accepted by the Indonesian Military (TNI) and
through Yahya, Mahfud may accommodate TNI's interests," said
Hermawan.

Political analyst from the University of Indonesia Arbi
Sanit said Abdurrahman's government would face strong opposition
from major political parties under-represented in the new
Cabinet.

"President Abdurrahman Wahid has fulfilled his promise to
recruit professionals, but he can no longer rely on political
support from either PDI Perjuangan or Golkar," Arbi said.

He suggested that Abdurrahman handle the strong opposition by
keeping the Cabinet solid and clean and encouraging the ministers
to take more initiatives.

He hailed Abdurrahman's decision to pick Mahfud as the defense
minister, saying civilian supremacy over the military must be
maintained.

Separately, Ikrar Nusabakti, a researcher at the National
Institute of Sciences (LIPI) predicted a gloomy future for the
Cabinet.

Ikrar said it would face difficulties in coping with economic
and financial problems because the President appointed new faces,
whereas the old tandem of Kwik Kian Gie and Bambang Sudibyo had
already found their form.

"Of course, these choices will upset the market and I am
afraid the rupiah will start to weaken," he said.

Ikrar criticized Abdurrahman's failure to put the right people
in the right places.

"Why should foreign minister Alwi Shihab be maintained while
people know he has done nothing for the past ten months in
office?" he asked. (team)