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.