The Habibie team

The Habibie team

President B. J. Habibie, fully aware of the odds being stacked
against his integrity and credibility, tried his best to impress
the nation with a core team of what he expects to eventually
develop into good governance. But the Cabinet he announced
yesterday, though not perceived as corrupt, collusive and
nepotistic as the last Soeharto Cabinet, fell far short of what
is needed to accelerate the overall reform process and to lead a
paralyzed economy into a robust recovery.

Habibie tried to broaden his base of support to face the
nation's worst economic crisis and to regain the public's
confidence by reaching out to the two political parties --
Indonesian Democracy Party and United Development Party. He tried
to remove the perception of nepotism and cronyism by tossing out
such members of the previous cabinet as Soeharto's daughter Siti
Hardijanti Rukmana, Gen. (ret.) Hartono, Mohamad "Bob" Hasan,
Subiakto Tjakrawerdaya, Fuad Bawazier, Wiranto Arismunandar,
Haryanto Dhanutirto, Abdul Latief and Sanyoto Sastrowardoyo.

But he failed to deliver efficiency. He maintained what the
public sees as redundant cabinet positions such as the
coordinating ministers for political and security, people's
welfare and poverty eradication and development supervision.
Still more discouraging is that Habibie reappointed to these
posts such personalities -- Gen (ret.) Feisal Tanjung, Haryono
Suyono and Hartarto -- whose major qualification is seen as
simply their loyalty to Soeharto.

We also wonder why, given the dire condition of the state
budget, Habibie maintained the posts of state ministers for
women's affairs, tourism and arts, food and horticulture and
population whose scopes of responsibility overlap with those of
other ministers with portfolios.

The only bright element of the cabinet is the economic team
and the full political autonomy Habibie gave to the central bank.
He not only retained the best members of the economic team of the
previous cabinet -- Ginandjar Kartasasmita, Tanri Abeng, Giri
Suseno Hadihardjono, Kuntoro Mangkusubroto -- but also recruited
Bambang Subianto as the new finance minister. Bambang, a career
bureaucrat of the finance ministry, is well known for his
integrity. He was appointed the chief of the Indonesian Bank
Restructuring Agency immediately after its establishment in late
January while he was still the director general for financial
institutions. But he was quietly fired almost five weeks later
for his tough stance in dealing with bad banks irrespective of
the political connections of their owners.

Our biggest reservation about this economic team concerns the
new minister of industry and trade, Rahardi Ramelan. The
exclusion of Bob Hasan, the industry and trade minister in the
previous cabinet, should greatly be welcomed because he was the
complete symbol of crony capitalism, monopolistic and rent-
seeking practices. But we wonder why Habibie should mar the
otherwise impressive formation of the economic team by appointing
Rahardi, one of his closest confidantes and an aggressive
advocate of dubious high technology, to head such an important
economics portfolio.

The most glaring shortfall in Habibie's Cabinet announcement
was the complete absence of clear-cut political and law reform
programs he will carry out. After all, he named his working team
the Cabinet of Reform and Development. Hopefully, this was not
deliberate neglect but simply a pending agenda he will soon set,
given the severe time restriction he faced between his
appointment to the presidency and the formation of the cabinet.

The greatest hurdle yet facing President Habibie is his own
public image; he is perceived as too closely associated with the
failings and notorious hallmarks of the departing president.
Habibie, known for quirky economic theories and profligate
spending in his years as research and technology minister, should
have realized that right now he is not only short of political
legitimacy, but is perceived as an antimarket personality who
favors nepotism and crony capitalism. His family and close
relatives reportedly control or partly own more than 80
enterprises. One of the first measures he took upon his election
to the vice presidency in the middle of March was to appoint his
own brother, J. E. Habibie, as the head of the Batam Development
Authority.

All these are not the characteristics befitting a leader whose
primary task is to establish integrity and credibility of his own
and regain public confidence in the government. Public confidence
is crucial for soliciting full cooperation and understanding on
the part of the people, who will have to endure many hardships
within the next two to three years at least before the nation's
economy, already paralyzed, stabilizes and recovers.

We think President Habibie, before doing anything else, should
start the process of gaining public confidence, not by asking his
supporters to take to the streets to demonstrate allegiance to
him, but by distancing himself from nepotism and crony
capitalism. This requires Habibie to set a good example to his
cabinet by publicly declaring his personal wealth, as audited by
public accountants, and publicly announce the numerous
enterprises which his family or close relatives control or partly
own.