Jakarta – Political experts have called on the likely presidential election winner, incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to streamline the "redundant" Cabinet if re-elected by reducing the number of ministers in its ranks.

"I think currently 33 ministers [in the Cabinet] is too many," a political observer from the University of Indonesia, Arbi Sanit, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

"Yudhoyono needs to cut any ministerial posts that accommodate power sharing between parties in his coalition, for the sake of state budget efficiency."

He said through merging and scrapping some ministries, the Cabinet could be made up of around 20 ministers and run far more efficiently. The industry and trade ministries could be merged, he said, while the religious affairs and social services ministries could be disbanded.

The acting dean of social and political sciences at Pelita Harapan University, Aleksius Jemadu, said Yudhoyono should focus on serving the public through a more streamlined Cabinet rather than cater to the interests of his political allies.

"Power sharing should be considered a second priority when it comes to establishing a well-functioning Cabinet," he said. "Yudhoyono should appoint more professionals to economic posts."

The best policy for Yudhoyono, Arbi said, was to allow political parties to have as little influence as possible in the next Cabinet.

"We cannot deny that political parties' interests must be served but Yudhoyono should keep it to a minimum," he said. "For instance, if the next Cabinet contains 20 ministers, Yudhoyono should only allocate one post per party, while the rest of the positions should be for experts."

Prior to the election, Yudhoyono established a coalition with four Islamic parties: the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the National Mandate Party (PAN), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the United Development Party (PPP).

Head of the Research Institute for Democracy and a Prosperous State (Pedoman), Fadjroel Rachman, said Yudhoyono did not need to worry about any possible resistance from his coalition partners.

"Yudhoyono does not need to consider establishing a coalition-based cabinet simply because of the massive 60 percent victory he likely achieved in the election," he said.

"He must focus on establishing an effective working cabinet manned by experts. He should also scrap ineffective and needless minister posts, such as the coordinating minister posts and the communication minister post."

PKS President Tifatul Sembiring, however, saw no reason for cutting the number of ministerial posts.

"Having 33 ministers, like we do now, is good," he said. "However, we should have a ministry for children's affairs. There are around 80 million children in Indonesia, many of whom have to deal with complicated issues such as poverty, forced labor, trafficking and poor education."

PKS was the first party to pledge allegiance to Yudhoyono's Democratic Party (PD) prior to the July 8 presidential election.

However, an expert from Surabaya's Airlangga University, Airlangga Pribadi, said there was no need for an additional ministry to deal with children's affairs. "We can incorporate children's affairs into existing ministries." (hdt)