Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – As President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono prepares to evaluate his Cabinet ministers' performance this year, members from his coalition are nervously anticipating a reshuffle.
Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie said Saturday that his party was ready for any replacements should any Golkar politicians be removed from the coalition Cabinet. Golkar has three representatives in the Cabinet, which consists of 34 ministers, 20 of whom are affiliated to parties.
"We have replacements ready should a Cabinet reshuffle require Golkar to replace its ministers," Aburizal was quoted as saying by news portal detik.com.
"[A reshuffle] would depend on the President's assessment of the ministers' performance, but we believe that our people in the Cabinet have been doing a great job," he added.
However, other members of the coalition, such as the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the National Awakening Party (PKB), are dreading a possible reshuffle.
The PKS' Fahri Hamzah said that a minister who failed to perform well was not at fault because the minister's performance depended on how well the President managed his Cabinet. He said the President ran a "one-man show" and could only give directions but not receive input from his aides.
"It would be better for the President to improve his leadership style for the next four years [instead of reshuffling the Cabinet]," Fahri told The Jakarta Post.
PKB deputy chairman Marwan Jafar said his party did not expect a possible reshuffle, adding that he was sure Yudhoyono would give coalition members enough time to name replacements for minister he would sack, if any. He added that Yudhoyono had not consulted his party or discussed any plans for a reshuffle.
Yudhoyono and Vice President Boediono were inaugurated on Oct. 20, 2009, meaning the President will mark the first full year of his second term in office in less than two weeks.
The head of the Presidential Work Unit for Development Monitoring and Control (UKP4), Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, said earlier that he would announce the results of the annual evaluation of ministers' performances on Oct. 20. His assessment would be used by the President in the event of a reshuffle.
Ahmad Mubarok, a senior politician from Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, said that if there was a reshuffle during the President's second term in office, the best time would be at the end of his first year in office. Yudhoyono reshuffled his Cabinet after one year during his first tenure in 2005.
"New appointees would thus have enough time – four years – in which to carry out their duties," he told the Post.
Ahmad said that the President was not likely to replace any ministers affiliated with his party. He added that ministers affiliated with Golkar, the second-largest party in the coalition, should not be worry that a reshuffle would affect them, calling Aburizal's statements mere "political rhetoric".
"Other parties, meanwhile, are either resigned or nervous [about a possible reshuffle]," Ahmad said.