Synergy in Cabinet

Synergy in Cabinet

President Abdurrahman Wahid finally had the sense of doing
what many critics have been telling him to do these past few
months: revamp his economic team. By invoking his constitutional
prerogative, on Monday, the President replaced Minister of
Industry and Trade Yusuf Kalla and State Minister of Investment
and State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi with Lt. Gen. Luhut
Panjaitan and Rozy Munir.

From the time he was elected President, Gus Dur has been
reluctant to use his prerogative in appointing and replacing his
Cabinet. He even began in October with a Cabinet that was
virtually imposed on him by the political organizations,
including the Indonesian Military (TNI), which helped to get him
elected as an underdog presidential candidate.

Gus Dur has since made it clear that he was unhappy with some
of the choices made for him. Yet, since the President alone, and
not his Cabinet, will be held accountable when the administration
ends its term in 2004, Gus Dur should never hesitate to change
the Cabinet if and when he sees fit.

With the country's economy still in the doldrums after six
months in office, naturally, a lot of the criticisms have been
targeted at Gus Dur's economic team. Teamwork in the Cabinet is
sorely lacking, but this should come as no surprise given that
these ministers came from political parties with diverse
ideological backgrounds.

This much was admitted by the President when he said that the
latest reshuffling was needed in order to bring about more
harmony and synergy within the Cabinet.

Few people, except Golkar supporters, would quibble over the
removal of Kalla from the strategic ministry. Rumors of his
replacement have been strong since December. The only mysterious
thing about his replacement was why it took Gus Dur so long.

The departure of Laksamana from the Cabinet could, however,
poses more serious problems for Gus Dur. Given his impeccable
background and high integrity, Laksamana has actually given a lot
of prestige to Gus Dur's Cabinet. Remove him and you stand to
lose some of that prestige just when the President badly needs it
to shore up confidence among the public, not to mention investors
at home and abroad.

The removal of Laksamana has also sent signals, rightly or
wrongly, that a fierce power struggle has been going on between
major political parties to seize control over the billions of
dollars of assets under state companies supervised by his office.

Over the last few months, the public has become aware of the
personal battles between Laksamana and his secretary Rozy over
the appointments of CEOs of major state companies. Not only did
Rozy win these battles, but he has now taken over Laksamana's
job. The most troubling aspect of this battle is that Rozy is a
senior member of, or at least is closely associated with, Gus
Dur's National Awakening Party (PKB).

The President now needs to explain to the public in greater
detail the reason why Laksamana was removed. He must also give
his personal assurances that Rozy's appointment will not lead to
a new kind of KKN (collusion, corruption and nepotism), and that
PKB will not use state companies as milk cows the way Golkar did
for more than 30 years when it was in control of the government.

One thing that can be said about the appointment of Luhut and
Rozy to the Cabinet is that since they are both Gus Dur's
choices, they must at least share the President's vision. They
should therefore fit well within the team. Neither of them are
complete novices in their new jobs either. As Indonesian
ambassador to Singapore, Luhut has been exposed to the world of
commerce. Similarly, Rozy has been practically manning the helm
of his office these past few months.

Competency is a crucial criteria for selecting a minister, but
not as crucial as having a common vision and purpose with the
President. Given the way he was elected to the presidency, Gus
Dur has had to accept ministers who not only have different
visions, but also those who serve different bosses.

By the look of it, the President will still have to make more
changes before we can expect to see real harmony and teamwork in
the Cabinet. Prime targets for the next round of reshuffle should
be ministers who have openly opposed Gus Dur's proposal to lift
the 34-year ban on communists. When it comes to his Cabinet, the
President should use his prerogative more often. And the sooner
he replaces ministers who have different vision from his own, the
better it will be, not only for the Cabinet, but also for the
nation.