October 26, 1999

Indonesia Gets Clean, Inexperienced Cabinet

By Reuters

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's new President Abdurrahman Wahid
Tuesday named a cabinet short on experience but long on skills
and integrity and with the fewest generals in the nation's
history.

He also put a civilian in charge of defense for the first time
in decades, pushing aside armed forces commander General Wiranto
following mounting criticism of the military for flagrant human
rights abuses at home.

``We have to make economic recovery our first goal, primary
goal, and the second to maintain our territorial integrity,''
Wahid told reporters after a nationally-televised announcement
of his new government.

Near-blind Wahid asked Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri to
read the names, which were largely as expected and represented
an almost complete cross-section of Indonesia's new political
spectrum.



WIRANTO GETS ANOTHER POST

Wiranto, who was defense minister and armed forces commander,
was edged out and made Coordinating Minister for Political and
Security Affairs, an influential post but with no direct control
over troops.

In his place as military commander, Wahid put Admiral Widodo Adi
Sutjipto, the first non-army man to hold the post.

Respected academic Juwono Sudarsono, and one of only four of the
32-member cabinet to have previously been a minister, became the
first civilian defense minister in well over a generation.

Wahid insisted Juwono had been outgoing Wiranto's choice.

``Don't think the military is crazy. They know the whole society
is changing... that the military has to change its attitude
toward society. Don't think like the international press,
judging the military in the wrong way,'' he said.

``We have a strong military and we need them and also they know
how to protect (society)... some of our generals are good some
are bad like in any other society.'' There are five generals in
the cabinet.



KWIK CHOICE PLEASES MARKET

To the delight of Jakarta's financial markets, Wahid picked
outspoken economist and Megawati confidant Kwik Kian Gie as his
chief economic minister, a post which carries with it the
crucial role of dealing with the International Monetary Fund.

``Kwik Kian Gie is one of the market's favorites. He is popular
for his sharp criticism of corruption in the old Suharto regime.
His appointment has been widely expected,'' said Ferry Yosia
Hartoyo, head of research at Vickers Ballas Tamara.

Other analysts also gave Wahid's selection high marks and the
rupiah immediately firmed on the announcement.

The new finance minister is Bambang Sudibyo, a U.S.-trained
academic, close to leading former opposition figure Amien Rais
who now heads the top legislative assembly.

A respected government is crucial if Wahid is to lure back the
foreign investment which has all but vanished over the last two
years as Indonesia ploughed deeper into economic and political
mire.

``I think this government has got the resolve to get a better
investment climate,'' one senior diplomat said.

But he warned: ``This government has got to deal with
expectations which are extremely high which, of course, they
can't meet.''



EAST TIMOR LEADER GUSMAO TO VISIT

In a signal to the outside world that he would not carry old
grudges into his rule, Wahid signaled he would invite East
Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmao to Jakarta for talks.

Gusmao spent seven years in an Indonesian prison until his
release last month following an overwhelming independence vote
in the former Portuguese territory. Gusmao returned home to East
Timor last week.

Wahid was elected last week in the country's first contested
presidential election along with populist opposition figurehead
Megawati Sukarnoputri as his deputy.

He has to grapple with the worst economic recession in 30 years,
an archipelago increasingly splintered by separatist violence
and vested interests from discredited rulers Suharto and B.J.
Habibie who may be reluctant to let go quickly.

Wahid has put economic recovery at the top of his agenda,
pledging to improve the lot of his 200 million people, an
increasing number of them living in abject poverty.

The IMF, heading a $45 billion rescue fund for Indonesia, has
suspended loans until a domestic banking scandal is resolved.

Marzuki Darusman, a top reformist in the former ruling Golkar
party and head of the National Human Rights Commission, was
named the new attorney general, a key post if Wahid is to make
good his pledge to bring Indonesia under the rule of law rather
than the whim of presidents

Kirim email ke