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Reorganisation of the cabinet and army

Source
SiaR - June 6, 1997

A quite surprising reorganisation of the cabinet and changes in the leadership of the army by the president were announced on Wednesday. This was announced by the State Secretary Moerdiono and armed forces chief Faisal Tanjung.

Golkar chair Harmoko who was the previous minister of information will be swapped with General Hartono who was previously Army Chief of Staff. Harmoko will take up a new post, State Minister for Special Assignments. The nature of this new position is not clear. Moerdiono said that it would be explained in more detail later. According to a SiaR source the new post will have a function similar to Opsus (Operasi Khusus, military special operations) as in the time of Ali Moertopo.

Lieutenant-General Wiranto will become army chief of staff and Major-General Soebagyo will become take over from Lieutenant-General Soedjasmin as second in command of the army. The new Kostrad commander will be Major-General Sugiono while command of the Diponegoro division will be taken over by Brig-General Margiono.

According to Moerdiono, Wiranto is currently on training and will later be promoted to a four star general. Soebagyo will be promoted to Lieutenant-General and all of the armed forces and police heads of staff will be promoted to the same level.

Meanwhile rumors within the elite are that the government system will experience changes after the coming MPR session [to elect the president/vice-president in 1998 - JB]. According to information obtained by SiaR, the presidency will be modified to double as the prime minister. The position of vice-president will no longer exist [will not be filled].

A presidency doubling as prime minister will have three deputy prime ministers. According to this information, Suharto in this new position will be assisted by BJ Habibie, Ismail Hasan Matereum Siti Hardiyati Rukmana better known as Mbak Tutut.

SiaR was unable to obtain information about whether the government system will be returned to the period of Sukarno known as the Cabinet of 100 Ministers. However all of the SiaR sources suspect that Suharto only wants to change the atmosphere by giving the impression that democratisation has occurred and by using Old Order jargon. Although another SiaR source said that Mbak Tutut will be given the number two position although she will be working alongside Habibie and Buya Ismail.

A political observer contacted by SiaR said that the positions for Harmoko and Hartono are only temporary until the MPR session. He added that Suharto wanted everything in order before the June 13 State Islamic Conference in Turkey.

Hartono is being promoted and replacing Harmoko because he did not act decisively against the media. "Harmoko often compromised with the editors who were brave enough to give him bribes. Suharto hopes that Hartono will act more decisively. Particularly against those papers which often report on and criticize the interests of his children" said a SiaR source.

A expert on the press contacted by SiaR said that the position of information minister was intentionally given to Hartono who will retire on June 10 to "secure" press reporting in the lead up to the 1998 MPR session. Particularly after newspapers had over reported the election rioting. "Perhaps the era of the military controlling the media will begin again as in the time of Ali Moertopo" said the source.

[Abridged translation by James Balowski]

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