Cabinet Hall of Shame!

While too early to conclude, president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono already shown signs that he might reshuffle cabinet lineup. In fact former minister Kwik Kian Gie, a close friend of Mrs Megawati Soekarnoputri (former president), had proposed cabinet restructuring to President Yudhoyono. Kwik claimed Yudhoyono warmly welcome his proposal for smaller number of ministers, say around 20, very much downsized from the current 34.

We don’t know exactly when he might do that or who might be kicked out. If newspaper articles could be considered valuable source of backgrounds, several ministers surely under public scrutiny and might be the target. Below could be some of them.

Hamid Awalludin (minister of justice and human rights affairs). Hamid might be inflicted by corruption scandal at General Election Committee (KPU) where he is accused of getting US$105,000. Hamid denied the allegation.

Rahmat Witoelar, minister for environment affairs. House Committee on waste materials import accused Witoelar of inadequate response to solve the increasing influx of dangerous waste materials to the country.

Aburizal Bakrie, chief economic minister. Some economists attacked his incapability in handling economic team under SBY’s cabinet. Besides, one company called PT Bakrie Telecom, a subsidiary of Bakrie & Brothers (Aburizal is the owner), is under investigation of loan irregularities at Bank Mandiri. Aburizal denied any wrongdoing on the loan. Aburizal was one of the largest bad debtors in the country with about US$500 million.

Yusril Ihza Mahendra, minister of state secretary. He is the leader of Partai Bulan Bintang (Crescent Star Party). Rumors said investigation on Bank Mandiri’s loan to PT Domba Mas might disclose relationship between Yusril and Susanto (owner of Domba Mas). Susanto is rumored to be major financier for Crescent Star Party.

Adhiyaksa Dault, Minister for sport and youngster affairs. He was missed a discussion on sport conducted by journalist as he was sleeping beauty and awoke late. It was late October 2004, just weeks after his appointment as minister by SBY.

Sugiharto, Minister of State Owned Enterprises. He installed two of his friends at Sharia Economic Society (MES) as expert staffs at the ministry. Sugiharto was treasury of MES. He also appointed chairman of MES as president director of Jamsostek while the man is accused of put Jamsostek into financial loses when he was director of Danareksa. Jamsostek losses were US$8 million, but no investigation ever conducted. Sugiharto also wrote a letter to Vice President Jusuf Kalla regarding names to be promoted as directors of SOEs.

Muhammad Mar’uf, minister for internal affairs. He installed four Makassar-born officers out of 11 newly appointed first echelon staffs at the ministry. Makassar is hometown of Jusuf Kalla. He denied ethnic-based appointment, saying it just a coincidence.

The list of Cabinet Hall of Shame could be longer in the next few weeks.

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Soeharto minister's son-in-law to lead investment agency

Young businessman, owner of around 30 companies, and close aide for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Muhammad Lutfi, has been appointed as the head of the Investment Coordinating Board.

Lutfi is replacing Theo Toemion, a close aide to former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, who is under police investigation for punching some foreigners at the basketball game on April 17 at Jakarta International School.

The 36-year-old businessman is the leader of Mahaka Group, a business group with interests ranging from electricity, luxury apartment developer, commodity trading, and media.

Who is Lutfi anyway?

Lutfi, a graduate of Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, played a high-profile role during Yudhoyono's election campaign last year, acting as an economic adviser and a spokesman.

He is son-in-law of Hartarto, former minister and close aide of former president Soeharto. Hartarto served as Soeharto's minister for almost 15 years.

The young entrepreneur started his own company at 24 with three friends. “We started off by trading in oil, mid-distillate products,” he says. From oil, the group expanded to grain and then set up a plant which produces calcium hydrate, the substance that separates copper from gold.

Today, the Mahaka Group has grown into a medium-sized company with 30 subsidiaries. More recently, it has moved into media, taking a controlling stake in Republika, a local daily.

He was accused of a juicy rice import activity with Indonesia’s state logistics company, Bulog. Lutfi’s company was accused of being awarded the import license of 400,000 tones of rice without a proper bidding process, thanks to his father-in-law. But he denied the accusation and no investigation was ever conducted.

His involvement in Republika (strong Islamic base readers) put him in a close relationship with Islamic scholars. In a seminar on sharia economics conducted by the University of Indonesia February 19, 2002, Lutfi said the Islamic economic system is an alternative to the global capitalistic model of the economic system.

It remains to be seen how Lutfi will attract investors, especially with his ideals of promoting an Islamic economic system, while most of investors in Indonesia come from the capitalist world (Japan, Europe, USA, Singapore, and Hong Kong).

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