JAKARTA, Indonesia (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Newly elected President Megawati Sukarnoputri named a coalition Cabinet dominated by nonpartisan specialists who she said will try to pull Indonesia back from the brink of ``disintegration.''
Thursday's announcement of the lineup, which also includes retired generals and feuding politicians, ended three weeks of political horse-trading since her election on July 23 when former leader Abdurrahman Wahid was impeached and dismissed by the national assembly.
High on the list of the 32-member body is former general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who will serve as the senior security minister. The top economics minister will be outgoing ambassador to the United States, Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti, a former economics professor. (Read photo caption below)
Yudhoyono is among six members of the new government who had been either fired from or had quit Wahid's troubled 21-month administration.
In a significant step, Megawati resisted pressure to stack the Cabinet with political appointees. At least 14 of the ministers are regarded as nonpolitical technocrats or experts in their fields.
Hasan Wirayuda, an envoy engaged in peace talks with separatist rebels from war-torn Aceh province, was named foreign minister.
The new ministerial lineup was greeted with mixed reactions. Market analysts praised the choices for the new economics team. Human rights activists decried the inclusion of an army officer implicated in a massacre of unarmed civilians.
Megawati said she would announce a new attorney general on Friday. The appointment will be crucial in maintaining the government's commitment to prosecute cases of corruption and human rights abuses left over from the 32-year dictatorship of former strongman Suharto.
Kuntjoro-Jakti told reporters that his job as economics chief would be improving ties with the IMF, which is holding back on a desperately needed 5 billion lending program to the country.
Among the other significant appointments was civilian Matori Abdul Jalil as defense minister. Matori had been chairman of Wahid's party but deserted the former leader to support Megawati in the final days of his administration.
An appointment that sparked immediate controversy was that of A.M. Hendropriyono, a retired lieutenant general, as the new intelligence chief.
He has been accused of ordering the slaughter of more than 100 unarmed civilians in southern Sumatra in 1989, when villagers resisted the seizure of their land by Suharto's cronies.
Megawati was obliged to assign some of the ministerial positions to politicians outside of her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle as a payback for their support of presidential bid. Her ruling coalition includes representatives from several conservative Muslim parties and Suharto's Golkar Party.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti talks on the phone while journalists interview him at his home in Jakarta shortly after he was appointed as Indonesia's new economic czar by President Megawati Sukarnoputri, August 9, 2001. The economic team named by President Megawati today, which included the respected outgoing ambassador to Washington, is likely to win the approval of jittery markets. REUTERS/Johan Wijaya
- Aug 09 7:32 AM ET