Ina Parlina and Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Near absolute loyalty to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono may have been what saved at least three highly controversial ministers from getting the boot in the Cabinet reshuffle, a political analyst says.
"The President kept the bad ministers due to 'considerations' other than their performance," political analyst J. Kristiadi from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said. The President took the controversial decision only to secure his future agenda, Kristiadi said.
Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng and Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar both retained their positions despite being implicated in high-profile graft scandals at their office by witness testimonies.
Andi is currently under the public spotlight because his ministry's secretary, Wafid Muharam, is on trial at the Corruption Court for alleged bribery in the construction of the athletes' village for next month's SEA Games. The case has also implicated former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin, who has been named a corruption suspect in the same case, as well as in other corruption cases.
The minister served as the President's spokesman for five years before being promoted to the Cabinet in 2009. He still spends much of his time working with the President despite his ministerial position.
Muhaimin is the chairman of the Islamic-nationalist National Awakening Party (PKB). His party is a loyal member of the President's ruling coalition. Muhaimin is known to have punished legislators who were not loyal to the President.
He was allegedly involved in a bribery case linked to a Rp 73 billion (US$8.24 million) project to build infrastructure in four resettlement areas in Papua that was commissioned by his office. The minister also said that his office had done its best to ensure the protection of migrant workers abroad.
Emerson Yuntho from the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) said that the President seemed to be willing to "share his political pie to secure mutual hostage relationships with other political parties".
"Why keep Andi Mallarangeng and Muhaimin who are allegedly linked to corruption cases? It's a mutual hostage strategy, I believe," Emerson said, adding that the President's move contradicted his own so-called war against corruption.
Meanwhile, despite demands from the country's two largest Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, and public outcries about the treatment of religious minority groups, the President decided to keep Suryadharma Ali as the minister of religious affairs.
Suryadharma Ali has been blamed for failing to prevent several provincial bans on the Ahmadiyah religious minority sect and recent closures and attacks on churches.
Suryadharma is the chairman of the Muslim-based United Development Party (PPP), a member of the coalition government. The party rarely criticizes the government.
Erna Ratnaningsih, chairwoman of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, which represents Ahmadiyah congregations across the country, said that religious freedom was the right of all citizens.
"In terms of religious tolerance, minorities are ruled out while the majority rules," she said, adding that she regretted the Presidents move to keep Suryadharma, who "obviously failed to represent all groups".