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