Wahid shakes-up his cabinet again

Wahid: 'reshuffle to improve effeciency'

By staff and wire reports

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, fighting for his political life, reshuffled his cabinet for the second time this month by naming a new economic team.

On Tuesday, Wahid named central bank deputy governor Burhanuddin Abdullah as the new chief economics minister in a reshuffle aimed at placating those vying to oust him.

The move comes as opposition legislators were preparing to impeach Wahid after the president was censured twice by parliament -- partly over his management of the economy, but also for his involvement in two financial scandals.

After sacking six ministers earlier this month, Wahid said the latest changes were necessary for greater efficiency.

"The reshuffle is to improve efficiency, and to enable us to meet our targets," Wahid said.

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Top economics minister Rizal Ramli was replaced by Burhanuddin Abdullah, once a senior official at the Bank of Indonesia. Ramli takes over the finance portfolios from Prijadi Praptosuhardjo.

Wahid also relieved State Secretary Marsilam Simanjuntak from the post of the state minister of administrative reform. He appointed Anwar Suprijadi for this post.

Building bridges

But Wahid's moves are widely seen as part of efforts to build bridges with Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri and her Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P), the country's largest political party.

It is not clear whether Megawati was consulted in relation to the latest cabinet shake-up. It is also unclear whether she was involved in discussions relating to the earlier cabinet changes on June 1.

Megawati

Wahid's relations with Megawati have frayed markedly in the past month and unless she agrees to some sort of political compromise, the Muslim cleric's days as Indonesia's first democratically elected leader appear to be numbered.

Megawati's party has already said the reshuffle would not prevent the special hearing to consider Wahid's impeachment on August 1.

New focus

Ramli earlier told Reuters that the new team would focus on speeding up the sale of assets held by the country's bank restructuring agency and boosting economic restructuring.

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country, is floundering both economically and politically.

Indonesia financial problems range from trying to attract foreign capital and dealing with a crushing debt nightmare.