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)