Pressure ratchets up for Cabinet shake-up

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

One month shy of one year old, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is facing mounting demands for a reshuffle of his Cabinet so as to avert what many say is a looming crisis.

Muladi, the newly-appointed governor of the National Resilience Institute (Lemhannas), a state think-thank, called on Tuesday for the legal and economics ministers to voluntarily tender their resignations as they had failed to bring about improvements.

"These ministers are the reason for weakening economic stability. The root cause of the problem is that they haven't been able to coordinate with each other," he said less than an hour after taking over from his predecessor, Ermaya Suradinata.

While not mentioning names, Muladi, a former justice minister, said the legal affairs ministers had failed to reform the law, judicial institutions, or legal culture or leadership.

Similar failures had characterized the work of the economics ministers in their respective fields.

But Muladi urged the President not to fire the ministers as this would affect investor and market confidence.

"So all the ministers who feel they have not performed well should just resign before things get worse," said Muladi, who is also a Golkar Party executive.

The calls for a Cabinet reshuffle have been increasing as the rupiah weakens.

The economic outlook has grown more gloomy with rocketing oil subsidy spending resulting from spiraling global oil prices, as well as a falling stock index.

Under the Constitution, only the President has the prerogative to replace ministers.

The President himself has had nothing to say about a reshuffle, only commenting that he will evaluate the Cabinet's performance in October.

His Cabinet is to some extent a result of political compromises with the parties that supported his nomination or backed his policies. As such, it is similar to all the administrations since the fall of Soeharto in 1998.

Former president Megawati Soekarnoputri and House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono, as well as People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Hidayat Nur Wahid, have joined the chorus of those calling for a Cabinet reshuffle.

Agung, the Golkar Party deputy chairman, said the government had failed to live up to its promise to deliver improvements in various sectors, especially the economy.

"The sooner the better. A comprehensive evaluation must be, not just of the economic ministers. We're still not seeing any improvements as regards employment, the high-cost economy and smuggling," he said.

Agung said the President had to take into consideration the will of the people as indecisiveness could affect his position and image.

Assembly Speaker Hidayat, the former president of the Islam- based Prosperous Justice Party, said the emergence of calls for a reshuffle should be taken on board by ministers.

"I'm sure the President doesn't want this Cabinet to be a failure. All the ministers signed a contract when they were picked, so this evaluation is extremely important to see how far they've come and to help them speed up," he said.