Robert Go, Jakarta – By drafting respected technocrats and businessmen into her economic dream team, President Megawati Sukarnoputri made clear her intentions of reclaiming the international community's support and getting the economy back on track.
New Coordinating Economics Minister Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti, Finance Minister Boediono and the rest of the team got similar reviews from analysts in Jakarta as capable, non-partisan and internationally-respected team players.
Mr Raden Pardede of Danareksa Research Institute said: "They are just what the doctor ordered. The team is full of heavyweights. Market reaction will be favourable." Former presidential adviser Sri Mulyani agreed: "They are competent and have integrity. The President has chosen the best combination available at this point and they should work well together."
Beyond assuaging the fears of domestic analysts, Ms Megawati also seemed to be trying to get across an idea that could define the rest of her presidency: Nationalistic thinking will guide her political decisions, but globalisation and a firm commitment to foreign creditors and investors will define her economic policies.
A few months ago, when then-president Abdurrahman Wahid entertained his economics czar Dr Rizal Ramli's anti-IMF musings, it was Ms Megawati who made behind-the-scenes efforts to appease and recover the trust of the Washington-based lender.
Mr Dorodjatun furthered the cause yesterday in his first remark as the new economics czar: "We will continue to work closely with the IMF. The government shouldn't regard the IMF programme as a burden." Finance Minister Boediono also has some ties to the IMF, as he was a part of the team that former president Suharto dispatched to negotiate with the agency in 1997 at the beginning of the South-east-Asian economic crisis.
Ms Rini Soewandi, now Trade and Industry Minister, and Mr Laksamana Sukardi, head of the state-owned enterprises, are also both internationally recognised names with proven track records of managing companies in the midst of an economic crisis. The two have worked in both the private and public sectors and are said to be relatively clean in an Indonesia that is defined, in part, by its institutionalised corruption.
And few are as well equipped as Manpower Minister Jacob Nuwawea, himself a former leader of a major union here, to deal with Indonesia's labour mess and to convince potential investors that there will be stability in that sector.
Ms Megawati's efforts could be paying off already, according to several foreign observers and players. Mr Mark Baird, the World Bank's director in Jakarta, said: "This is a very promising economic team. It combines professional expertise and bureaucratic experience. It should be well received by the financial markets." Mr David Chang of Vickers Ballas, on the other hand, had some doubts: "Yes, these are good choices, but foreign investors will still wait for further developments. Failure would set the country back again."