By IPS Correspondents
JAKARTA, May 23 1998 (IPS)

New Indonesian President Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie tried to send the right political signals when he named a new “reform” Cabinet Friday, but sceptics say prospects for genuine change remain unclear at best.

A day after his predecessor and patron Suharto resigned, Habibie said the “reform development Cabinet” would take “pro- active steps and measures to return the engine of growth which has halted and greatly deprived the small people.”

The new Cabinet, composed of both old and new faces, is Indonesia’s second since March, when Suharto had assembled a new team soon after getting a seventh, five-year term as president.

“This Cabinet is committed to eradicating corruption, collusion, nepotism and other practices of inefficiency,” said the 61-year-old Habibie, a German-trained engineer and former minister of research and technology.

Thus, he dropped the two most visible Suharto figures — Suharto’s daughter Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana and confidante and timber tycoon Mohammad ‘Bob’ Hasan — from the Cabinet.

Siti had been social welfare secretary and Hasan trade secretary since March, appointments that helped fuel public anger over the Suharto family’s dominance in both political and economic spheres at a time of extreme hardship.

But while trying to present a different Cabinet, Habibie also referred repeatedly to an adherence to the state ideology of ‘pancasila’ that Suharto had espoused through his 32-year rule.

Critics are taking a wait-and-see stance toward the Habibie government, watching to see if he can take a route different from his mentor Suharto.

Popular reformation figure Amien Rais said he “neither accepts nor opposes the new Cabinet. I am questioning several names on it. But I think we should give them a chance to work”.

Rais, headof the 28-million strong Muslim group Muhammadiyah, said the Cabinet should prove its credibility in six months, a timetable other observers said would be more than enough to judge the Habibie administration.

Student protesters were not impressed with the Cabinet at all, focusing instead on calls for a special session of the People’s Consultative Assembly to pave the way for fresh elections and replace Habibie’s transition leadership.

“Habibie will be the second disaster,” read one of the new banners that had sprouted along the streets of the Indonesian capital.

Among the old faces in Habibie’s Cabinet are Ginanjar Kartasasmita, coordinating minister for economy and industry, who had been leading negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in recent months.

His retention was designed to convey the message that Indonesia remains committed to reforms pledged under the terms of the 43 billion U.S. dollar bail-out package, and the desire see some degree of economic stability restored.

But the violence and turmoil on Indonesia’s streets means the road to a semblance of economic stability will not be easy.

The IMF has delayed considering the next one billion dollar tranche of aid to Indonesia. After Suharto quit, Fund deputy managing director Stanley Fischer said the IMF would not be able to “move ahead util the political situation clarifies”.

Debate is beginning to centre around a fast response from the Fund now that assistance is most needed, instead of the institution sitting back and waiting like any other investor.

Fund officials say economic reforms that had been in place before this month’s disturbances had now been set back some three months, and new macroeconomic targets would have to be put in place given the much grimmer economic picture.

Austerity measures prescribed under the IMF programmed played no small part in worsening the economic pain felt by Indonesians, many of whom rioted in protest of fuel and other price hikes that Suharto was subsequently forced to revoke.

Suharto critic andhead of the Gema Madani group Emil Salim says the Cabinet should get down to pragmatic matters at once. “This is an emergency situation. For now, what they are supposed to do is short-term measures,” he argued Friday.

“They should come up with a rescue programme focusing on efforts to smoothen out food distribution, to ensure food stocks and to bring prices of basic needs down,” he said. “In short, what they have to do now is to feed the hungry grassroots.”

Inflation in Indonesia had hit nearly 40 percent in March, and unemployment has soared to 10 percent in this country of 200 million people.

The IMF’s help “remains necessary”, said economist Umar Juoro. Thus “Indonesia should be more pro-active in negotiation with the international monetary institution,” he added.

Added Salim: “Now we should proceed with full confidence (on economic reforms), not half-hearted like we were in the past.”

Also to project seriousness in economic reform, Habibie took the post of central bank governor out of the Cabinet because the bank “should be fully independent, free from interference of government or any party”.

Others also retained in the Cabinet were diplomat Ali Alatas as foreign secretary, Hartarto as minister of administrative reform, Akbar Tanjung as state minister/state secretary and Haryono Suyono as minister of welfare and poverty alleviation.

Military figures remain dominant as well, with Gen. Wiranto keeping his position as military chief and defense minister. The army’s role in Suharto’s ouster and Habibie’s entry had been evident in the way Wiranto spoke right after Habibie’s swearing in Thursday.

The military will “continue to play an active role to avoid manipulation or oter developments which can threaten the stability and unity of our nation”, Wirato had said.

Trying to widen the circle beyond the ruling party and the military, Habibie also named several academics, professionals and members of non-government organisations to the Cabinet. These include economist Marzuki Usman, NGO activist Adi Sasono, economist Fahmi Idris and professor Juwono Sudarsono.

But for many ordinary Indonesians, their key wish is simply for order to return to the streets, bloodshed to stop and life to get better once again.

“New Cabinet? I am not well-informed of those guys. But if things are going to be better soon — they win my support,” said Rachman, a vegetable vendor in Jatinegara traditional market here.

Asked if Indonesia ought to hold new elections for president, Rachman replied: “New election? I am afraid of more chaos, riots, looting and burning.”

“I just hope my husband resumes his job very soon,” said Nani, a 47-year-old housewife in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta.

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