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He also said that the PBB had not withdrawn its support for Susilo as had otherwise had been reported.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