Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono faces calls to carry out a "major reshuffle" of his Cabinet as a unit evaluating the performance of the ministers is expected to complete and announce its findings by the end of the month.
Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) political observer Burhanuddin Muhtadi said the majority of ministers affiliated with political parties should be removed, adding that their performances were "below standard".
"I say 12 of the 19 ministers with party affiliations should receive red marks and be removed," Burhanuddin told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
In late October 2009, 34 ministers were sworn in. They included 19 ministers with party affiliations, with the others from professional backgrounds.
Burhanuddin and Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) political expert Ikrar Nusa Bakti agreed that among the ministers that should be removed from the Cabinet were Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali, the chairman of the United Development Party (PPP), and Communications and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring, the former chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).
Both the PPP and PKS are members of the ruling coalition led by Yudhoyono's Democratic Party. Ikrar said Suryadharma failed to protect religious minorities, and criticized Tifatul for his numerous controversial statements.
Both Ikrar and Burhanuddin also criticized the poor performance of Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi, who recently faced public anger following several train accidents and an alleged sex scandal. Also lambasted was Coordinating Public Welfare Minister Agung Laksonoand Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar for his failure to protect Indonesian migrant workers overseas.
Freddy is a member of the Democratic Party, Agung is from the Golkar Party, while Muhaimin is the chairman of the National Awakening Party.
"Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Darwin Zahedy Saleh [of the Democratic Party] also needs to be removed, especially because of his failure to address the widespread incidents of gas canister explosions and other issues," Burhanuddin said.
Ikrar said that although a major reshuffle would highlight Yudhoyono's failure to pick the right people for the job, he still needed to take the risk.
Mohammad Qodari, the executive director of political survey institute Indo Barometer, however, said Yudhoyono could still give under-performing ministers up to four months to improve once the Presidential Work Unit for Development Monitoring and Control (UKP4) announces the results of its Cabinet performance evaluation.
UKP4 head Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said earlier the unit would complete the evaluation by the end of the month. Yudhoyono said he would use the evaluation to consider the need for a possible reshuffle.