MARKET WELCOMES CABINET RESHUFFLE

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, July 17 (Antara) - President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi's)  cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday is positively welcomed by many quarters, including political leaders, politicians, economic analysts and market players.         The appointment of Sri Mulyani Indrawati, a former finance minister and managing director of the World Bank, to the finance ministerial post, is considered a the best option to reinforce the economic team in the new cabinet lineup.         President of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) Sohibul Iman said the economic team of the President is reinforced with 'star players' so that it would improve the nation's economic conditions.         "Like a soccer team, the economic team has been filled with star players. Now it will depend on the president as the coach of the players whether he is able to lead the team and mobilize his players," said Sohibul Iman to reporters in response to the newly appointed cabinet ministers as announced by President Jokowi on Wednesday.         Therefore, the PKS president asked all sides to respect the decision of the head of state to reshuffle his cabinet. He said seeing the names of new ministers, the reshuffle focuses on improving the nation's economy which has so far become the spotlight of the public.

PRESIDENT YET TO DECIDE SECOND CABINET RESHUFFLE

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 14 (Antara) - Even though a second cabinet reshuffle has become a public discourse of late, President Joko Widodo has yet to decide to revamp his cabinet immediately again after he replaced a number of ministers last August.          "Last night the President and the Vice President met with the leaders of political parties grouped in the Great Indonesia Coalition(KIH). A cabinet reshuffle will not be imminent but the President and Vice President know when it will be carried out," Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said in East Java Friday night.          Promono was reluctant to speak much about the possible replacement of a number of ministers who are considered to have not yet contributed well to the government. He only stated that the government now was trying to strengthen its support to political parties so that they will be strong in the Parliament and in the government.          Therefore, supporting political parties will be reinforced, according to Pramono. So, the term of the KIH, which is an alliance of political parties supporting Jokowi during the election, will no longer be popularized.          "It is now time not to use the KIH term, but support political parties," Pramono said, as there are political parties which will become new supporters of the government.

INDONESIAN PARLIAMENT HAILS CABINET RESHUFFLE

 by Andi Abdussalam

          Jakarta, Aug 12 (Antara) -- Welcoming President Joko Widodo's move to reshuffle his working cabinet, the parliament said that it gave new hope amid the country's slowing economic growth.

         "It gives us new hope. The president must have evaluated the work of his ministers," House Speaker Setya Novanto said in response to the cabinet reshuffle that was conducted on Wednesday.

         Novanto added that the efforts of the reshuffled ministers should be appreciated.

         Chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly Zulkifli Hasan had the same positive response.

         He said that the cabinet reshuffle conducted by President Joko Widodo will assure the market and public that the working cabinet now has the right people.

         "The cabinet reshuffle will give a strong signal to the market and public that positions in the cabinet are now filled by the right people," he stated here on Wednesday.

CABINET RESHUFFLE STILL IN QUESTION

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, July 8 (Antara) -- The reshuffle of the working cabinet has become a subject of public discourse over the past four months, but President Joko Widodo has yet to make a statement on replacing his ministers.          A few quarters are of the opinion that the ministers in the current cabinet have not been able to perform in accordance with the president's concepts of 'Nawacita' (a Sanskrit term for nine priority development programs) and mental revolution yet.          Also, several policies issued are not pro-people and based on neither Nawacita nor mental revolution, which Jokowi, as the president is fondly called, intensively promoted during his presidential campaign last year.          According to Boni Hargens, a political observer of the University of Indonesia, there will be no problem if Jokowi reshuffles his cabinet, as long as he does it properly and meets the target.          "Since the beginning, the president has stressed that mental revolution should be the common motivation. Radical change is needed in Indonesia's currently complicated situation. If reshuffling the cabinet is the technical solution, it needs to be done to achieve the goal. I think there will be no problem with that," Hargens had said on April 23.

JOKOWI EXPECTED TO RESHUFFLE WORKING CABINET

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, May 5 (Antara) -- Six months into his term, President Joko Widodo, who was installed as Indonesia's seventh president last October, is expected to reshuffle his cabinet ministers as they are believed to be underperforming.          Of late, some quarters have been voicing the need for Jokowi, as the president is popularly known, to reshuffle his Working Cabinet to make his government run more effectively.          "As seen in the performance of the Working Cabinet, only a few ministers have been active and carrying out their duties based on the tasks given by President Jokowi. Others give the impression that they did not perform the given tasks," a sociologist of the Gorontalo State University, Rudy Harold said last month.          There have been indications that Jokowi will finally review his cabinet ministers, as pointed out by Vice President Jusuf Kalla on Monday.          Kalla confirmed that the government will reshuffle its current cabinet to improve its performance.         "Yes, it will be done as performance needs to be improved, and it will need people with the required capabilities," he stated at his office but did not mention when the reshuffle will take place.

CABINET SHAKE-UP, NOW OR NEVER

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Sept 21 (ANTARA) - The cabinet reshuffle discourse may have disturbed ministers but the president had better realize that it is  now or never at all so that his ministers can concentrate on their jobs in the remaining three years, observers say.          "If the president really intends to replace low-performing or problematic ministers, he had better do it immediately because , if not, it will have political implications that will affect his government's  performance," Arizka Warganegara, political analyst of Lampung University (Unila) said in response to the cabinet reshuffle discourse.         Arizka's view was shared by his political scientist colleague Edi Indrizal of Andalas University in West Sumatra. Edi said that if the president did not reshuffle the cabinet, it would further worsen his image which had already dropped by an unprecedented figure of late.         "Moreover, the president now has objective reasons to reshuffle his cabinet because there are several ministers whose performance is considered not optimal," Edi said.          Besides, if the president reshuffles his cabinet, the new ministers will have enough time to carry out their visions and missions in the administration's remaining three years.          However, the two political observers said that in replacing some of his ministers President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should not base his decision on political considerations.          "It would be useless to reshuffle the cabinet if it is based on political considerations, much less  if it is based on like and dislike. The new ministers' performance would not be maximal because the right man was not put in the right place," said Arizka.          In the meantime, Edi said that if political considerations were taken into account in replacing the ministers, it would be hard to expect that an improvement in the ministers' performance could be made in the remaining three years.          He said that political considerations for a cabinet reshuffle could be a boomerang for the president because so far the ministers who got more public spotlights were those who came from political parties.          Therefore, now is the time for the president to prove to the public that he was not 'held hostage' by political parties and could take a firm step to place professional people for carrying out his vision and missions, Edi said.          He said it was now time for Yudhoyono to carry out reshuffle because now was the last momentum for him to decide the journey of his leadership. Two years of his second presidential term was enough for him to judge which ministers had to be replaced.           According to Arizka Warganegara, the president in replacing his ministers should use a clear and measurable criteria. He must have the courage to ignore political intervention from political parties in his coalition and the opposition party.          Besides, the president should place professionals in their respective fields and provide no rooms for personal egoism in the cabinet, thus objectivity would become a means of measuring the composition of the cabinet.         In this case, the Head of State should empower the Presidential Work Unit for Development Supervision and Control (UKP4) as an institution which is able to provide an objective assessment of the government's performance.          Political observer of the Malang-based University of Muhammadiyah (UMM) Dr Mas'ud Said meanwhile suggested that Yudhoyono should pay attention to three aspects in reshuffling his cabinet.          He said that the three aspects covered ministers who were related to legal problems, who had bad performance and who had bad health conditions. A minister with legal problem was not good in public opinions while those with bad health conditions would affect work performance.          The new ministers must be more capable than the outgoing ministers they had replaced as otherwise it would invite new public criticisms. "It would not pose any problem if the successor ministers have more capability," Mas'ud said.          Rizka Negara added that if order to see incapable ministers their performance should be learned from the assessment and report of the UKP4.  He said that at least four ministers should be replaced due to inability to handle the problems of Indonesian migrant workers overseas, judicial mafia cases, unprofessional handling of the upcoming SEA Games and the failure in the mediation of free trade such as the Chinese Asian Free Trade Area (CAFTA).          Besides, the minister who has bad health conditions should also be replaced, Rizka said.          In the meantime, Secretary General of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) Muhammad Anis Matta expressed his suspicion that the reshuffle discourse had been raised by a certain party for the interest of strengthening logistics  in the face of the 2014 general elections.          "I am afraid that the president has gathered input from those who wanted the cabinet to be reshuffled with the ultimate end of strengthening their logistics in the face of the general elections," Anis Matta said.          However, he believed that the discourse on the cabinet reshuffle was only a rumor. "If it is true that the president is willing to reshuffle his cabinet, he must have contacted the leaders of political parties," he said.          The PKS secretary general said that the president had not yet contacted any political parties who were members of his government coalition. Therefore, PKS was of the view that there was no certainty yet about the cabinet shake-up discourse.          According to a presidential aide, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is currently formulating a cabinet reshuffle plan with Vice President Boediono.          Presidential special aide for political communication Daniel Sparingga said on Tuesday the president had not yet involved political parties in the process at this stage but would do so later on.          "Until now, the President has not yet involved anyone except the vice president but in time , he will also involve political parties and political parties also understand that the success of the government will  also be their success," he said.           He said the President and the vice president had deliberately isolated themselves from the coalition with regard to producing the best decision.           "So, there is a new spirit. We change from what in the past used to be called "being held hostage" to the brotherhood spirit," he said.***3*** (T.A014/A/HAJM/21:10/A/S012)21-09-2011 21:31:2

MINISTERS INDIFFERENT OVER RESHUFFLE DISCOURSE

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Sept 17 (ANTARA) - Some ministers did not react too much over the discourse that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was likely to reshuffle his cabinet ministers this year.          The discourse on the possible cabinet shake-up was raised recently by Achmad Mubarok, member of  the ruling Democrat Party (PD)'s board of patrons.          Mubarok raised the issue after  the Presidential Working Unit for Development Control and Supervision (UKP4) made the assessment that some ministers lacked maximal performance.          Yet, a number of ministers in the Indonesia United Cabinet did not take it seriously.  "There is no problem if some people voice inappropriate opinions in looking at a certain issue," Darwin Zahedy Saleh, energy and mineral resources (ESDM) minister, said after a cabinet session on Thursday.          Some people have taken up the UKP4 assessment results to voice their opinions that some ministers are likely to be replaced by the president. Darwin has heard such an opinion. He admitted that his ministry had a red score on certain fields by the UKP4. "The energy and mineral resources ministry got a red report on certain fields," he said.          However, the ESDM has got the red scores not merely because of its weaknesses but also of external factors such as the delay in the disbursement of budget that hampered the implementation of its programs.         "So, we would like to see the red reports more as a blessing in disguise," Minister Darwin said.          Law and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar did not either give much response to the discourse on the cabinet shake-up. "Just let people have their own opinions ," Patrialis said.          He expressed regret about the attitude of certain people who considered the UKP4 assessment results as a signal that the president would be willing to replace his ministers. After all, the delay in a number of ministers' programs was not merely due to the mistakes of the ministries concerned.          "Many have dreams to become a minister so that it seems as if they were  using the red scores of the current ministers as a propaganda," Patrialis said.          On separate occasions, Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi and Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said they had not yet received the final results of the UKP4 assessment, and that they did not respond to the reshuffle discourse.          Cooperatives and Small Enterprises Minster Syarifuddin Hasan said he always followed the assessment of the presidential working unit but he refused to disclose the results of the UKP4 assessment of his ministry.          "It should not come from me, but the UKP4," he said.          In the meantime, Chief Patron of the United Development Party (PPP) Lukman Saefuddin said the reshuffle issue was raised by Achmad Mubarok to exert pressures so that Yudhoyono would reshuffle  his cabinet. "It was a kind of a fait accompli" he said.          He said that it was the president's prerogative right to replace or not to replace his ministers. Lukman said that the discourse only posed a difficulty to the president in deciding a policy regarding his ministers.          The PPP chief patron said that keeping on raising the reshuffle discourse created the impression that the president was being pushed to go ahead with replacing his ministers. Therefore, he asked Democrat Party cadres to appreciate the president's steps in deciding his own policies regarding whether or not he was going to reshuffle his cabinet.          He said that PPP felt it had nothing to loose with the cabinet shake-up discourse as long as it was raised by people other than the president himself.          Therefore, Lukman hoped that the president would soon respond to the discourse affirming whether or not he would replace his ministers.          If the president affirmed he would not reshuffle his cabinet, Lukman hoped that the Democrat Party cadres would stop raising the issue because it would only disturb political communications.  "If the president says no, the discourse should be stopped soon," he said.          Recently, Achmad Mubarok said that President Yudhoyono was likely to reshuffle his cabinet this year. "We have the experience in the past when the president replaced his ministers. The president will replace his ministers after one year of his government. It will be one year next October," said Mubarok.          He said that the UKP4 assessment report could serve as a basis for Yudhoyono to relace his ministers who were considered lacking performance. "The UKP4 has made a report where a number of ministers have got red scores. This is a reference for Yudhoyono to carry out a cabinet shake-up," he said.          Mubarok said he did know the ministers who would be replaced, neither did he know when the replacement would take place but he predicted that five ministers would likely be replaced. "Only the president who knows who and when," he said.          However, Democrat Party Chairman Anas Urbaningrum denied if his party was encouraging the president to carry out a cabinet shake-up.          "I have never heard about the 'reshuffle' issue (from the president). The Democrat Party will not  involve itself in the issue because the reshuffle issue is not only the prerogative right of the president but also we do not want to disturb the concentration of ministers in carrying out their tasks," Anas said.           He said that the Democrat Party had the commitment to reinforcing the country's presidential system by fully leaving the ministers affairs to the president. "There is no need to urge the president to reshuffle his cabinet. On the other hand the president should neither be hampered if he would carry out refreshment of his cabinet," said Anas.          In the meantime, Democrat Party Deputy Chief Patron Marzuki Alie who is also the House Speaker,  asked that people should not heed the reshuffle discourse.  "There is no need to hear it. The reshuffle discourse came out of  Mubarok's personal statement," said Marzuki.          He stressed that as deputy chief patron of the party, he had never heard about the reshuffle. "I never heard about it," Marzuki who is also former secretary general of the Democrat Party said.          He said that Mubarok could have made the statement because of his personal dislike of certain ministers.  "It can be that he had made the statement about the reshuffle because he disliked certain ministers.  I am close to all ministers myself," he said.          Democrat Party associate chairman Radityo Gambiro said the cabinet reshuffle issue was raised by Mubarok based on his personal opinion. "That is his own opinions and analysis. We should respect his opinions," said Gambiro. ***1*** (T.A014/a/H-NG/a014) 17-09-2010 09:02:

PRESIDENT UNLIKELY TO RESHUFFLE CABINET

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Feb 25 (ANTARA) - In spite of its discontent over disloyal partners, the ruling Democratic Party (PD) has said it is determined to maintain its coalition, indicating that ministers from disloyal parties would not be reshuffled.          There is usually a political sign on the change in the government's structure before a cabinet reshuffle is to be made. So far, such an indication has not yet been seen.          "I am not convinced there will be an immediate reshuffle because I did not see any  indication of a change in the government body," Golkar Party Chief Patron Akbar Tanjung said.          After all, reshuffling the cabinet ministers is the prerogative of the President. So, although the Democratic Party is not satisfied with its coalition partners, it will leave the matter to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.          "The reshuffle is the prerogative of the President. Should the president decide to carry out a reshuffle, Golkar will respect it, yet I don't see any signal to that effect," Akbar Tanjung said.           A number of PD leaders have expressed disappointment over the attitude of a number of ruling coalition partners which was not in line with that of the PD with regard to the Bank Century bailout case.          A House inquiry committee is investigating alleged violations in the extension and disbursement of a bailout fund for Bank Century in late 2008 amounting to Rp6.7 trillion.          Golkar and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) have been aggressive throughout the House of Representatives' inquiry, particularly in targeting Boediono and Sri Mulyani to take the fall. Several Democratic Party leaders have warned the two parties that taking sides with the opposition meant they no longer considered them part of the coalition.          Boediono, now the vice president, was the governor of Bank Indonesia (the central bank) and Sri Mulyani, the finance minister, was then head of the  Financial System Stability Committee (KSSK), when the bailout was provided for the ailing Bank Century.          Discontent over the 'disloyalty' arose further when factions in the inquiry mentioned the names of Boediono and Mulyani in their final views early on Wednesday.          Before the factions delivered their final views, several PD leaders appeared in TV reports saying that those who did not follow the line should better withdraw their ministers in the government.          "They had better withdraw their ministers," Hayono Isman, a member of PD board of patrons, said. The same voice was also expressed by PD secretary general Amir Syamsuddin. "We are awkward to claim they are our coalition partners," Syamsuddin said in a TV show debate.          Being annoyed by coalition parties, the leadership of the Democrat Party early this month proposed a cabinet reshuffle. Amir Syamsuddin said the proposal was made when he and two other PD leaders, namely Anas Urbaningrum and Muhammad Jafar Hafsah met the president on Feb. 4, 2010.          In spite of its discontent, the DP leaves the matter to the president. Democrat Party chairman Hadi Utomo said the party was leaving the cabinet reshuffle issue to President Yudhoyono to decide because it was the head of state's prerogative.          "The Democratic Party is not in a position to push for a cabinet reshuffle because it is the president's prerogative, but we will remain guarding every government policy," he said     According to Akbar Tanjung, so far, there is no sign that the president will reshuffle his ministers from the ruling coalition partners in the near future. He said that Golkar had supported since the beginning the inquiry committee into the Bank Century case.          "We continue to maintain this position. Golkar is committed to channeling the aspirations of the people," he said. Akbar who is also a former general chairman of Golkar said his party would continue to support Yudhoyono's government.          "Partners in coalition are working together to create a clean government. What Golkar is doing with the inquiry into the bailout case is part of what Yudhoyono has asked the committee to do, namely to disclose the Bank Century case completely " Akbar said.          In the meantime, Golkar senior cadre Agung Laksono, who is also chief minister for people's welfare affairs in Yudhoyono's government said  on Thursday he had not received any pressures from the government with regard to the Golkar stance.          "There is no pressure at all," he said before he attended a meeting with the President on Thursday.  He said that after all factions delivered their final views of the Bank Century case on Tuesday, the president did not discuss the Golkar attitude with him.           Several party factions, including that of Golkar, in the House committee investigating the  Bank Century bailout decided to mention the names of those  considered responsible for the controversial Bank Century bailout in their final views on the committee's findings.           Although the coalition partners' views are not in line with that of PD, yet the Democrat Party will maintain its coalition with them. "The Democrat Party prefers to remain friends (with its coalition partners) and will maintain the coalition despite the differences," Anas Urbaningrum, a PD associate chairman, said.          "The differences are still about a matter at committee level and not something at government level," he said.     Tuesday.            According to the Democrat Party, no violations has been committed  in connection with the bank's bailout in 2008 worth Rp6.7 trillion. "We would prefer to maintain the coalition ... unless of course they insist on getting out,"   Anas Urbaningrum said.      (T.A014/A/HAJM/13:20/a/o001)