President confirms plan to reshuffle his Cabinet

President confirms plan to reshuffle his Cabinet

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid gave his strongest
signal yet on Monday that he plans to take a backseat role after
he reshuffles his Cabinet in the not too distant future.

In off-the-cuff remarks to the People's Consultative Assembly,
the President said he would concentrate more on the "little
details" of foreign affairs, with the help of his foreign
minister.

Someone else would take charge of the technical details of
domestic affairs, he said in introductory remarks to a progress
report of his first 10 months in office.

His statement came amid growing suggestions that the nearly-
blind President should appoint a first minister to manage the
day-to-day affairs of the state.

"In time, we will reshuffle the Cabinet. That entails a
division of work," he said, adding: "I have not thought about who
will be replaced and the direction of the reshuffle."

With the President coming under a lot of criticism for the
lackluster performance of his administration, many analysts
believe that reshuffling his rainbow coalition Cabinet could go a
long way in appeasing his political detractors.

There has been a wide-ranging debate as to whether the
President, given that his health is weak, should delegate more
authority to Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri or appoint a
first minister.

Speculation about the candidate for the job of first minister
has focused on one name only: Army Lt. Gen. (ret) Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, who is the minister of mines and energy and the man
who led the team in charge of putting together the President's
progress report.

Susilo, however, professed ignorance when asked about the
speculation on Monday.

"I don't know anything about this plan. It does not have any
connection at all to my position as the coordinator of the
presidential speech," Susilo was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industry
Kwik Kian Gie said he was ready to leave his Cabinet post if the
President asked.

"I am ready, because I always prefer to be a politician. I
have dedicated the last 30 years of my life to the political
field," Kwik, a senior executive of the Indonesia Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), told journalists.

Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono said the Cabinet should
ideally comprise 25 ministers instead of 35 at present.

State Minister of the Empowerment of Women Khofifah Indar
Parawansa, considered to be a member of the President's inner
circle, said the President had not decided about the size of the
Cabinet.

"Gus Dur will decide on the reshuffle after Aug. 18 (when the
MPR meeting ends). He has not decided how he is going to do it,"
she told The Jakarta Post.

Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said the decision to
reshuffle the Cabinet came as a response to public pressure and
was not a genuine attempt to strengthen the administration's
performance.

"Personally I don't see the importance of a reshuffle," he
said.

The current Cabinet was virtually imposed on the President. It
reflects a compromise between the major political factions,
including the military, of the MPR that elected him in October.

The President is now caught in another tug of war: One option
open to him is to form a smaller coalition Cabinet involving his
own small National Awakening Party (PKB) and Megawati's PDI
Perjuangan; a second is for another inclusive broader coalition
that includes House Speaker Akbar Tandjung's Golkar Party and MPR
Speaker Amien Rais' National Mandate Party (PAN).

Akbar, whose party last month said it was ready to leave the
Cabinet and play an opposition role in the House, warned that
while the President had the constitutional prerogative to select
his Cabinet, he must not ignore political realities.

Professionalism and competence were not the only requirements
when selecting ministers, he said, adding that political support
was also crucial in ensuring the Cabinet's stability.

"A candidate's competence is one condition. It's more ideal if
the candidate also has strong political support. The Cabinet will
then enjoy strong support," Akbar said.

PDI Perjuangan legislators rejected the idea of appointing a
first minister, saying it was a violation of the Constitution.

Chairman of PDI Perjuangan faction at the House Arifin
Panigoro predicted legal difficulties if the President went ahead
with the idea because a first minister would also trample on the
feet of the vice president. "It is not a matter of limiting the
vice president's role; it is also not easy to regulate it,"
Arifin said.

PDI Perjuangan secretary-general Sucipto rejected the very
idea of a Cabinet reshuffle, saying it was not the best answer to
Indonesia's problems.

"The chief problem of the government is its lack of
consistency," Sucipto said. (dja/prb/jun/rms/nvn)