Imanuddin Razak, Jakarta – Skepticism and disappointment have dominated discussions of the latest reorganization of the United Indonesia Cabinet.
While the reshuffle mainly focused on cabinet posts with highly-sensitive political and legal connections, the move by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday to replace only one member of his 10-strong economic team, State Minister for State Enterprises Sugiharto, has been criticized as wimpy decision.
"To me, the (latest) reshuffle is politically heavy as it fails to help drive reform in the non-financing (industrial) sector of our economy, which has long been stagnant," chief coordinator of Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) Teten Masduki told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
"We also cannot neglect the possibility of a tug-of-war among political parties as the State Ministry for State Enterprises controls a huge amount of assets," Teten said, while adding that state enterprises had frequently been treated as cash cows by ruling governments.
Sugiharto said recently that the total nationwide assets of state-owned enterprises nationwide could be worth more than Rp 5 trillion (US$563 billion).
But he did not set aside Sugiharto's poor performance, noting that it had been particularly lacking in the divestments of PT Semen Gresik, telecommunications company Indosat and gas company PGN. "Don't forget that we sold those companies' shares cheap."
Economic observer Ichsanuddin Noorsy said the economy would not change much following the reshuffle as the government's economic team remained the same.
"I call it a half-hearted reshuffle and it will result in continuing unemployment," Noorsy said, as quoted by Antara. "It means that President SBY maintains unemployment and tends to favor the market, not the people," he added.
Yudhoyono's move to remove two ministers from the United Development Party (PPP) has disappointed the party. "We are unable to hide our disappointment. We are deeply disappointed," PPP chairman Suryadharma Ali told the media at the House of Representatives here Tuesday.
He was referring to Sugiharto and State Minister for the Development of Disadvantaged Regions Syaifullah Yusuf, who were replaced by non-PPP members Sofyan A. Djalil and Muhammad Lukman Eddy.
The PPP finished fourth in the 2004 legislative elections with 9,248,764 votes (8.15 percent of the overall vote) after the Golkar Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle and the National Awakening Party. It was well above Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, which came fifth with 8,455,225 votes (7.45 percent of the vote).
Hamdan Zoelva, chairman of the Crescent Star Party, who lost Abdulrahman Saleh and Yusril Ihza Mahendra in the reshuffle, said Tuesday the party's executive board would hold a meeting Thursday to decide whether to withdraw or maintain its support for Yudhoyono. "It's not a problem of having representatives in the cabinet... but a violation of the commitment made by SBY," Hamdan said.
While strongly criticized in the economic sector, Yudhoyono's move to put Hendarman Supandji at the helm of the Attorney General's Office, replacing Abdulrahman Saleh, has drawn hopes that the government will perform better in law enforcement.
"SBY should not stop at reshuffling the cabinet, but continue with prosecuting Yusril and Hamid Awaluddin," ICW coordinator for court monitoring Emerson Yuntho said, as quoted by detik.com news portal.
Both Yusril and former justice minister Hamid Awaluddin have been in the spotlight over allegations they helped Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, son of former president Soeharto, to withdraw US$10 million from the London branch of Bank Nationale de Paris Paribas despite strong evidence the money had been obtained through illegal channels.
Meanwhile, chairwoman of the Jakarta Legal Institute Asfinawati expressed hope that the Attorney General's Office could uncover the truth behind the 2004 murder of rights activist Munir Said Thalib and the alleged corruption surrounding foundations belonging to former president Soeharto.