Jakarta – The limited Cabinet shakeup announced by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday night appears to be a blessing in disguise for the fractured National Awakening Party (PKB).
The reshuffle, which included two PKB figures from the two rival factions, is expected to help end the bitter conflict within the party founded by former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid.
The two ministers from PKB are Gus Dur's defiant nephew, Saifullah Yusuf, and Erman Suparno. They were both nominated for their current posts by the Gus Dur camp, which is led by his loyalist nephew Muhaimin Iskandar.
Its splinter faction is backed by Alwi Shihab who was axed from Susilo's Cabinet, with his position as the chief welfare minister being taken over by former chief economics minister Aburizal Bakrie, a senior member of the Golkar Party.
Erman is meanwhile the treasurer of Muhaimin's PKB faction and was appointed as the new manpower and transmigration minister, replacing Fahmi Idris.
Muhaimin, also a House of Representatives deputy speaker, confirmed that his faction had proposed to Susilo that Saifullah be retained in the Cabinet and Erman Suparno be named a new Cabinet member.
"We forget the conflict and we hope all of this will be part of efforts toward togetherness," Muhaimin was quoted by Antara as saying in response to Saifullah being maintained as the state minister for the development of disadvantaged regions. Saifullah is also a key leader of Alwi's PKB camp.
A source close to the PKB said Saifullah had pledged to reunite with the Muhaimin faction provided that the party supported his bid to stay in the Cabinet.
"Saifullah has signed a deal with Muhaimin to recognize the latter's leadership of the PKB," the source said, adding that Alwi had done the same, although he had to leave the Cabinet to pave the way for Aburizal to occupy his ministerial post.
In reshuffling the Cabinet, analysts said one of the major sticking points faced by Susilo concerned what to do with Aburizal, who was strongly backed by Vice President Jusuf Kalla who also leads Golkar.
A source close to the reshuffle plan said Alwi agreed to leave the Cabinet as Kalla promised to help facilitate reconciliations among the PKB rival factions.
When announcing the Cabinet shakeup, Susilo publicly said he would assign Alwi, a former foreign minister in the administration of Gus Dur, as his special envoy for Middle East cooperation.
Choirul Anam, who recently replaced Alwi as his PKB faction leader, said on Tuesday he could understand the removal of Alwi from the Cabinet.
"I am sure that in reshuffling the Cabinet, the President has acted wisely in line with his prerogative," Anam told Antara in Surabaya, East Java. "Once again I say that there is no problem with the replacement of Alwi. Nor do I see any particular motive behind his removal from the Cabinet."
The PKB has been split into two factions since a plenary meeting of the party decided to dismiss Alwi and Saifullah as its leader and secretary-general respectively. The dismissals followed moves in October last year by the two former loyalists of Gus Dur to join the United Indonesia Cabinet of Susilo, whose presidential candidacy was not supported by the PKB.
The Supreme Court recently ruled that Alwi's dismissal was invalid. However, the rival camp said the verdict did not change Muhaimin's PKB leadership since the court did not allow Alwi to use the party's symbols and flag.