Susilo starts selection of new Cabinet members

Susilo starts selection of new Cabinet members

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has started interviewing
several people as candidates for members of his new Cabinet team,
a source at the State Palace said.

The source, who requested anonymity, was quoted by the online
news service of Kompas daily on Sunday as saying that the
interviews had been conducted over the past few days.

He declined to disclose the names of people who had been
summoned to the Palace, nor the names of ministers to be
replaced.

Susilo has recently completed evaluating the performance of
his embattled Cabinet, and according to Cabinet Secretary Sudi
Silalahi, the President will announce the results of the
evaluation after Idul Fitri.

The President, who was elected in October last year and has
promised to evaluate the performance of this Cabinet after one
year in office, has been facing pressure to reshuffle the Cabinet
amid criticism over the performance of the government in
resolving the country's various problems.

There had been strong calls for the President to replace key
economics ministers, a demand which became even stronger
following the decision to increase fuel prices. Vice President
Jusuf Kalla's Golkar Party, the largest party in the House of
Representatives and the main supporter of the current government,
initially said there was no need for Susilo to reshuffle the
Cabinet particularly the economics team, which is led by Aburizal
Bakrie of Golkar as the Coordinating Minister of the Economy,
pointing out that the government could not quickly fix the
current lingering problems as it had to deal with several
unexpected disasters.

But after a couple of prominent surveys suggested that Susilo
must reshuffle the Cabinet to rebuild the image and boost the
performance of his government, Golkar deputy chairman Agung
Laksono said last week that it was high time for the President to
quickly change the members of the Cabinet.

"I am aware that the public demands for a Cabinet reshuffle
are on the rise. People are pinning their hopes on the government
and I would like to see this being responded to. The government
will be unable to meet the people's expectations given the
current situation. A new departure is necessary," Agung said
after greeting the President during an event to mark Idul Fitri
at the State Palace on Thursday.

Agung, who is also the speaker of the House of
Representatives, said the Cabinet shakeup was crucial to speed up
the implementation of promised economic recovery programs.

Susilo, a retired Army general and the country's first
directly elected president, has been tightlipped over the
reshuffle issue. But officials of the Prosperous Justice Party
(PKS), another supporter of the government, who last week met
with the President, said that Susilo was certain to replace poor-
performing ministers.

The PKS, the only Muslim political party in the coalition
supporting the government, insisted that a reshuffle of the
Cabinet was essential to ensure the party's continuous support of
the Susilo government.