Comment by Hamish McDonald – The new Megawati Cabinet will reassure foreign lenders and investors that the Government will continue with the economic rescue plan negotiated with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The new chief economic minister, Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti, had a spell in jail for questioning the distributive side of president Soeharto's economic management in the mid-1970s. He has since had a conversion to the benefits of strong economic growth fuelled by foreign investment, and has been involved in mainstream policy circles for nearly two decades. Most recently he was ambassador to the United States.

Megawati also seems to have excluded the more obvious fixers and carpetbaggers from the lucrative economic portfolios, though she has made sure the patronage-rich State Enterprises ministry went to her own party lieutenant Laksamana Sukardi. But in the related areas of defence, internal security and justice her intentions remain a bit more enigmatic.

The postponement of a decision on a new attorney-general seems to indicate that a fight is still going on over a post that will be critical to the success of prosecutions of military figures over atrocities in East Timor and elsewhere.

The new co-ordinating minister for security, the retired lieutenant-general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, held the post under president Abdurrahman Wahid. A former head of UN peacekeepers in Bosnia, he is regarded as a "thinking" army man likely to support military reform, if at a moderate pace.

The new Home Minister, Lieutenant-General Hari Sabarno, was head of the military-police nominees in parliament, where he acted to repress any challenges to Soeharto's dominance in the last days of his rule. He is likely to put the brakes on the devolution of powers to the provinces and regions begun since Soeharto fell in 1998.

The only real shocker in the list is the new head of the State Intelligence Co-ordinating Body, retired lieutenant-general A.M. Hendropriyono, a former Special Forces officer who has a black mark in his career over the February 1989 massacre of scores of villagers in Lampung province, where he was a local commander.

Mr Hendropriyono is one of two Special Forces, or Kopassus, figures who attached themselves to Megawati's opposition camp in the 1990s, the other being Lieutenant-General Agum Gumelar, who has been made Minister for Transport.