Indonesia's president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyno has opted for a steady hand on the wheel, with changes to his cabinet. The moves are restricted to key economic posts.

Presenter/Interviewer: Karon Snowdon

Speakers: Ross McLeod, economist, Australian National University; Arief Budiman, professor of Indonesian Studies at Melbourne University

Snowdon: Some analysts see these changes as a power play between the president and his vice-president Jusuf Kalla, but they'd be wrong. Both men are smart enough to know the changes are necessary for the country, and perhaps even for their own political futures.

To coin a phrase, "it' the economy, stupid!" It was the issue at the time of the elections and will be the issue at the next one.

Arief Budiman, Professor of Indonesian Studies at Melbourne University, says that rather than highlighting any rivalry between the two men at the top, the decision would have been made jointly.

Budiman: You must not pay too much attention on the relationship between SBY and Jusuf Kalla. I think they are doing quite well. They respect each other and they have this kind of separation of power basically, in which Jusuf Kalla is dealing with the economic and SBY is trying to get a good image of the government. I think they are working very well and it's not an indicator at all in my opinion.

Snowdon: Abdurazal Bakri as a crony businessman from the Suharto days carries that particular baggage, and the inevitable perception of a conflict of interest in his current job. His choice last year for the important coordinating ministers job was controversial. His large group of companies left huge unpaid debts from the Asian financial crisis. He stays in the cabinet, but is moving sideways to the less powerful post of Minister for People's Welfare. His replacement Boediono was credited with getting Indonesia's economy back on track as Finance Minister for three years until 2004.

As coordinating economics minister he won't have direct control of a portfolio, but overseas, the various economic ministries.

Ross McLeod, editor of the Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies at the Australian National University, says Boediono's interests and experience lie in professionalising their bureaucracy, building business confidence and indirectly reforming the judicial system.

McLeod: SPY wouldn't have brought him in unless he respected his talents and intended to listen to what he was saying and so I think although Boediono won't be in any of the powerful economics ministries, he certainly will be in a good position to influence the directions of economic policy in this government.

Snowdon: So the benefit of his experience in providing something of a guiding hand perhaps is the thought behind this appointment?

McLeod: I think so, I think Boediono is a very clever guy, he is experienced. He's been a planning minister, he's held a very high level position in the Central Bank and he's been the finance minister, so he certainly knows what it's all about it, and he's pretty much on the ball doing the right sorts of things.

Snowdon: The economic team has come in for criticism over slowing investment, rising inflation and the struggling currency. The key post of finance minister manages the budget and macro-economic policy. Sri Mulyani Indrawati was President Yudhoyono's first choice last year, but her previous senior job with the IMF, the organisation whose policies caused so much pain in the 90's, drew criticism. Here's Ross McLeod.

McLeod: I think she's a very highly regarded economist. I think she's widely respected for her capability and for her desire to sort of do the right thing and to reform things and get things moving. I also think she'll work very well with Boediono, and also she has another colleague in the ministry by the name Marie Pangestu who is the minister for trade and although she hasn't been mentioned in this reshuffle, that simply means that she's retained her portfolio and I think she's very widely respected in Indonesia and by the president and I think that those three in particular will make a very formidable team in the cabinet.