Why this delay?

Why this delay?

Ideally, President Megawati Soekarnoputri should have
announced her Cabinet by Aug.1, one week after she, then Vice
President, was installed by the People's Consultative Assembly
(MPR) as president Abdurrahman Wahid's successor. That Cabinet
could then have benefited from the reservoir of goodwill and the
high expectations that the market had shown. The question now
arises as to why it has taken so long for President Megawati to
form a new cabinet, despite the majority of political parties
having pledged their full support.

There are a number of reasons that in this context deserve to
be looked at carefully. First of all, there is Megawati's rigid
adherence to the constitutional stipulation as formulated in
Chapter II, Article 8 of the 1945 Constitution, which states (in
its official translation) that "Should the president die, cease
from executing or be unable to execute his duties during his term
in office, his office shall be taken over by the vice president
until the expiry of that term."

Based on those words, Megawati's view is that she is only
completing President Abdurrahman's term until 2004, which means
that she should not tinker too much with the now-defunct Cabinet,
except, of course, for the strategic posts that deal with the
vital matter of the economy. However, President Megawati should
remember that the constitutional process of replacing Abdurrahman
and elevating her as his successor was only possible because of
the broad coalition of political parties.

The forging of this broad-based political coalition is one
positive outcome of the political standoff that, ironically, was
caused by Abdurrahman himself. So, if only a small number of
vacant posts were available in the now-defunct Cabinet, it would
have been harder to satisfy the expectations of the political
parties.

The argument for a cabinet that is predominantly new is not,
however, in order to satisfy the expectations of the political
parties, but a public and market that are hoping for new
policies, formulated and implemented by a new team. That is why
Megawati's close political associates within the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) have been tactfully
persuading their leader to adopt a new stance.

Another reason for the delay can also be traced to the
different views within the ranks of PDI Perjuangan concerning the
candidacy of Hamzah Haz, chairman of the United Development Party
(PPP) for the position of the vice-presidency. Political logic
dictated that Megawati needed a partner from among the Islamic
parties. Matori Abdul Jalil, of Abdurrahman Wahid's National
Awakening Party, would have been the ideal candidate, since he
had Megawati's trust. Matori, however, is having difficulties
with his own party.

It was only after intense debate within the PDI Perjuangan
faction in the MPR that finally Hamzah got the full support of
Megawati's party. However, a close senior party executive in PDI
Perjuangan is of the opinion that in order to cement a close
relationship with the National Mandate Party (PAN), Amien Rais's
party, former finance minister Bambang Sudibyo should get his old
job back. On the opposing side, Laksamana Sukardi, who has
Megawati's trust to draft the economic and financial policies of
the new cabinet, is of the opinion that the strategic posts
relating to those matters should be entrusted to credible names
with professional reputations, respected by the multinational
agencies and the market. Apparently it is taking time to
reconcile these opposing views.

There are, of course, other reasons that could have caused the
delay in the announcement of the cabinet. This concerns
especially the working style of the President, who prefers to
take in all the different views, which takes time to digest. The
President apparently did not realize that by postponing the
announcement she was only whetting the appetite of the political
parties for more cabinet posts.

More importantly, however, this postponement will drastically
limit the time available to the new cabinet to prepare itself for
some important upcoming events, such as the meeting of the Paris
Club, which is scheduled to take place early in September to
discuss the resolution of Indonesia's debts -- and that, in turn,
requires the finalization of the pending Letter of Intent with
the International Monetary Fund.

Considering that the President's speech before the House of
Representatives on Aug.16, on the eve of Indonesia's Independence
Day, is also intended to present the outlines of the draft state
budget for 2002, it is clear that the announcement of the new
cabinet cannot be delayed for too much longer.