Politicians to dominate Cabinet
JAKARTA (JP): While President Megawati Soekarnoputri remains silent on the possible lineup of her Cabinet, Vice President Hamzah Haz suggested that most ministers be recruited from political parties in a bid to win the parties' support of the new government.
Speaking to journalists after Friday prayers in the mosque opposite his private residence in East Jakarta, Hamzah said many politicians "are smart and capable of handling state affairs".
"I think many politicians fit the ministerial posts, for example Kwik Kian Gie and Laksamana Sukardi from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), who are widely known for their capabilities," Hamzah remarked.
Like Hamzah, both Kwik and Laksamana served as ministers in former president Abdurrahman Wahid's administration. The three were dismissed by Abdurrahman, whose erratic 21-month rule ended on Monday.
The Vice President underlined that ministers from political parties would enjoy wider support in carrying out their duties.
He proposed that during this transitional period, 60 percent of the Cabinet members should come from political parties, with the rest of the ministerial posts going to nonpartisan professionals.
"This composition is needed to help the government push for an immediate economic recovery," said Hamzah, whose tenure in the House of Representatives was mostly spent on the budget commission.
He said, however, the final decision on the Cabinet lineup was Megawati's.
"It is the prerogative of the President to appoint her ministers and I won't give any recommendations unless I am asked to do so. We have to wait for Ibu Megawati to decide on the Cabinet lineup," Hamzah said.
Megawati said after her induction as the country's fifth president that her Cabinet would be announced in a few days. The President visited her father's grave in Blitar, East Java, on Thursday, and made her first official domestic trip as President to Sumedang in West Java, Palu in Central Sulawesi and Makassar in South Sulawesi on Friday.
Separately, Akbar Tandjung, the speaker of the House of Representatives and the Golkar Party chairman, said his party would support the government even if none of its members were included in the Cabinet.
"Even if Golkar is kept out of the Cabinet, we will support the new government and give it a chance to restore political stability and defuse the long-standing economic crisis," he said, adding that he did not yet know whether Megawati would recruit any Golkar figures for her Cabinet.
Meanwhile, the deputy secretary-general of the National Awakening Party (PKB), Muhaimin Iskandar, said on Friday his party, which was cofounded by former president Abdurrahman Wahid, would refuse any offer from Megawati to join the Cabinet.
Muhaimin said the decision was made during the party's plenary meeting at its headquarters in Kuningan, South Jakarta, on Friday.
Programs
Politicians and activists called on Megawati to announce her development programs before naming her ministers.
Alvin Lie, a legislator from the National Mandate Party (PAN), said both the public and the market were waiting for the new government's programs in the areas of the economy and the legal system, with the country currently plagued by an economic crisis and legal uncertainties.
"Megawati must first announce to the public what her priorities will be in the first 100 days of her government, instead of forming her Cabinet, to convince both the public and the market," Alvin said during a panel discussion here.
He advised the new government to adopt the major parties' joint political platform in designing its programs.
He explained that according to the parties' political platform, the new government should prioritize stabilizing the rupiah and reducing to a minimum interest rates to revive the real sector, creating political stability and upholding the supremacy of law to regain international confidence.
According to Feisal Riza Rachmat, a prodemocracy activist, if political leaders continue to fight for power the Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly will have been of no benefit to the public.
"The public will remain apathetic about the national leadership and the new government will be trapped in horse- trading if it fails to design programs benefiting the majority of the public," he said.
He also called on the Golkar Party to stay out of Megawati's government and play the role of an opposition party.
"Golkar's opposition would benefit not only the much- criticized party but also the government," he said, adding that the absence of an opposition party in the past contributed to the corruption and collusion among political leaders and the bureaucracy. (rms/dja/tso)