'Stop calls for Jakarta Cabinet changes'

The Straits Times, March 13, 2007
By Salim Osman, INDONESIA CORRESPONDENT



'Stop calls for Jakarta Cabinet changes'
President says critics' demands are disruptive, and reshuffle will take place only when necessary

JAKARTA - PRESIDENT Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has rebuffed calls for a Cabinet reshuffle, saying he would make changes only when necessary.

'Stop making a fuss over the reshuffle,'' the clearly irritated President said during a news conference at the weekend.

Dr Yudhoyono's comment came as speculation ran wild in Jakarta over an imminent Cabinet shake-up in the wake of mounting criticism of many ministers.

The President said his administration was doing its best to solve the many problems facing the country, and that any discussion of a Cabinet reshuffle would only confuse matters.

'A Cabinet reshuffle could happen if I deem it necessary, but it cannot be done every day, every time, as it would disrupt our work,' he said on Sunday.

But Dr Yudhoyono's call for an end to the debate fell on deaf ears.

Chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB) Muhaimin Iskandar said the very same day that half the Cabinet must be replaced for not having 'a sense of crisis', poor work performance as well as poor coordination among ministers.

'We are in a state of emergency because of the string of disasters, but the government is very slow in reacting,' he said.

In recent days, party leaders and analysts have been meeting to discuss the performance of the Cabinet in its third year in office.

Many have been vocal in calling for the removal of some ministers, with Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa topping the list.

Mr Hatta, a politician from the National Mandate Party (PAN), has come under fire following a string of disasters involving ferries and airplanes in the country.

He had sacked top officials of his ministry soon after the sinking of a ferry on its way to Banka Belitung in Sumatra from Jakarta's Tanjung Periok last month.

When asked by reporters whether he would resign after a state-owned Garuda airliner crashed in Yogyakarta last Wednesday, Mr Hatta reluctantly said he was prepared to step aside if asked by the President.

Next on the list is Religious Affairs Minister Maftuh Basyuni, who has found himself at the centre of a scandal after a Saudi company that his ministry had hired to provide meals for Indonesian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia failed to deliver the food.

Some pilgrims who went hungry while on their pilgrimage last December have sued the the minister for negligence. They filed their suit in Jakarta.

Some conservationist groups have also been demanding the removal of Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie.

Mr Aburizal has fallen out of favour over his links to Lapindo Brantas, the gas exploration company owned by his family that is being blamed for a continuing mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java.

Dr Yudhoyono, who has been in office for more than two years, reshuffled his Cabinet in December 2005 when he replaced three ministers who had no backing from their political parties. He appointed three new faces and changed the portfolios of two ministers.

Analysts said Dr Yudhoyono, the first directly elected president in Indonesian history, is likely, at best, to decide on a minor Cabinet reshuffle under present circumstances.

Mr Abi Sanit of the University of Indonesia said: 'If he wants to do it, he could have done it last year.

'What is keeping him from reshuffling the Cabinet is the support he still needs from various political parties whose representatives are in his team.'

If he replaces one minister, he needs to get someone from the same party, maintaining the quotas of the respective parties in the Cabinet, said the analyst.

Parties such as Golkar, whose chairman is Vice-President Jusuf Kalla, have also been calling for a reshuffle, but with the view to getting more Cabinet seats for themselves.

Golkar is not happy that it only has three seats in the Cabinet - the same as smaller parties such as PKB, PPP (United Development Party) and PAN.

There are seven parties in a loose coalition supporting the Yudhoyono administration, each with between one and three representatives in the Cabinet.