Camelia Pasandaran – The smiles, firm handshakes and backslaps that marked Friday's farewell party for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's outgoing cabinet betrayed the fact that despite some commendable achievements, true government reform has failed to materialize.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has stood out for her attempts to modernize the ministry, which includes the notorious Customs and Excise Agency and Tax Department, while Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla have received international recognition for bringing peace and relief to tsunami-ravaged Aceh, stabilizing the nation and combating terrorism.

However, the ongoing level of corruption in the government and the unwieldy bureaucracy, widespread social failures, environmental problems and the failure to rein in the Armed Forces, among other things, will be what most remember the outgoing cabinet for.

A cartel cabinet

The United Indonesia Cabinet, also known as the Rainbow Cabinet, drew immediate criticism when it was revealed on Oct. 21, 2004, with more than two-thirds of the lineup from the military and political parties. Particularly contentious was the appointment of controversial businessman Aburizal Bakrie as coordinating minster for the economy. Only 10 of the 34 ministers came from professional backgrounds.

Rocky Gerung, a philosophy lecturer at the University of Indonesia, said Yudhoyono's desire to satisfy all competing interests muddled his agenda during his first term. "It was a cartel cabinet," Rocky said. "A group of competing interests that had no clear theme."

Yudhoyono, he said, should have first worked out what it was he wanted to achieve before selecting his ministers.

Burhanuddin Muhtadi, a political researcher from the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), described the grouping of ministers as a "fat cabinet."

"There were too many ministers, which actually is not necessary to represent all interests," he said. "Twenty is enough, because too many ministers made the work ineffective as they had to go through all the bureaucracy of the coordinating ministries and the president before making decisions."

Jimmy Siahaan, a senior researcher from the Center for Public Policy Studies, said that though Yudhoyono had attempted to unite all interests, he should have been aware of the candidates' lack of abilities.

"Not only did many lack the capacity to do their jobs as ministers, but they also had a problem with leadership," he said.

Poor performance

Despite praise for Mulyani, placed under a recent cloud in the murky PT Bank Century bailout, Yudhoyono's cabinet performed as many expected it – given its members' backgrounds – poorly, resulting in eight ministers being replaced or reassigned. The most common reason given for this is corruption.

Ibrahim Fahmy Badoh, coordinator of the political corruption division at Indonesia Corruption Watch, said reports of corruption were widespread, encompassing most, if not all, ministries and departments, including the religious affairs and education ministries.

"We found many irregularities in school operation funds in the Education Ministry," Ibrahim said. "The corruption surrounding the hajj pilgrimage funds is also infamous."

Forestry Minister MS Kaban, who has overseen the widespread degradation of the nation's rain forests, was caught up in a 2004 bribery scandal alongside State Minister for National Development Planning Paskah Suzetta in connection to the appointment of economist Miranda Goeltom as Bank Indonesia's senior deputy governor, though both were able to avoid serious investigation and held on to their positions.

Aburizal Bakrie, demoted from coordinating minister for the economy to the coordinating position for people's welfare, was a consistent embarrassment with a string of incidents, most notably the Lapindo mudflow disaster.

Burhanuddin and Jimmy were particularly critical of Bakrie, saying the only time he appeared to react was "after an earthquake."

Burhanuddin said other apparent shortcomings were the demonstrated lack of coordination within the cabinet, or rather the members' seeming inability to cooperate with each other.

"It's as if they did not have the same perception on how to reach agreements," Burhanuddin said. He cited an incident when the Industry Ministry and the State Logistics Agency called for rice imports, citing lack of supply, while the Agriculture Ministry rejected the idea, saying that there was a production surplus.

Another clash occurred between the Home Affairs Ministry and the State Ministry for Administrative Reform. Reform Minister Taufik Effendi prohibited state employees from participating in regional elections, but Home Affairs Minister Mardiyanto overruled him.