Susilo bends under pressure

Susilo bends under pressure

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is struggling to put
together a Cabinet on the eve of his inauguration as various
political forces lobby to have their say or secure seats at the
Cabinet table for their own people.

The four-star retired Army general has now interviewed a total
of 30 candidates, after he summoned five more candidates on
Tuesday, mostly from parties that supported him during the
election.

The five interviewed on Tuesday were Taufik Effendi and Jero
Wacik of Susilo's Democratic Party, MS Ka'ban and Yusril Ihza
Mahendra of the Crescent Star Party (PBB) and Supreme Court
Justice Abdurrahman Saleh.

Yusril, who arrived in the afternoon, said that he came not
for an interview but merely for a consultation on how far the
selection process had progressed.

He also said that the PBB had not withdrawn its support for
Susilo as had otherwise had been reported.

"We are still supporting SBY and what Pak Sahar has said was
his personal view," Yusril said, referring to the PBB deputy
chairman, who said that the party would consider abandoning
its support should Susilo press ahead with his appointment of
"pro-IMF" ministers.

The possible outcome of the selection, however, remained iffy,
with Susilo appearing to buckle under pressure from political
forces.

One of the first casualties of the jostling could be economist
Sri Mulyani Indrawati, whom many had expected to get either the
job of coordinating minister for the economy or the finance
portfolio.

The threat from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) to withdraw
its support for Susilo if he picked "pro-IMF" economists appeared
to have an impact. By yesterday afternoon, Sri Mulyani, currently
an executive director of the IMF representing 12 Southeast Asian
countries, is no longer being penned in for either of the two
most important jobs in the economics team, and instead found
herself being nominated for the nominal post of minister of
national development.

Current Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo
Yusgiantoro, who was favored to keep his post, has reportedly
been penned in for the post of coordinating minister for the economy,
while Syaifullah Yusuf, previously tipped as state minister for
youth affairs, had been reassigned to a new ministerial post, and
E.E. Mangindaan, who was previously expected to become minister
for energy and mineral resources, has been assigned the post of
state minister for administrative reforms.

Hadi Soesastro, executive director of the Centre for Strategic
and International Studies (CSIS), warned on Tuesday that Susilo's
failure to resist the pressures would be perceived by the market
as setting a bad precedent for the future of his presidency.

One of Susilo's spokesmen, Andi Alfian Malarangeng, said the
president-elect had decided on thirty names, but there was still
a possibility of changes being made.

Susilo is expected to announce his Cabinet lineup on Wednesday
evening, hours after he and vice president-elect Jusuf Kalla take
their oaths of office at the People's Consultative Assembly. The
Cabinet ministers will take their oaths early on Thursday.

Andi said that Susilo had still to interview four candidates,
but due to his busy schedule he would not do this at his private
residence. "They will be interviewed somewhere else, sometime
before the cabinet lineup is announced," he said.

Sources said General Elections Commission (KPU) member Hamid
Awaluddin would be interviewed and assigned the post of minister
of justice and human rights, while Martiono Hardiyanto would get
the state-owned enterprises portfolio, Joko Kirmanto the public
works portfolio and Farid Husain the health portfolio.