President Megawati Sukarnoputri swore in her new cabinet Friday, imploring the ministers to work as a team to pull Indonesia out of its economic and security crisis.
"I have formed a cabinet which I have named the 'Cabinet of Cooperation'," Megawati said in a speech during the ceremony at the presidential palace.
"It is not merely a name, it is the way of life of the Indonesian nation ... and I ask all ministers to live up to the meaning of cooperation."
Megawati, the daughter of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno, also appealed to the country's 210 million people for their full support "so that we can overcome the crisis we're facing."
"With the support of the entire nation, Indonesia can go back to what it was."
She urged ministers to put aside their personal interests. "Let us cooperate and work hard because the time we have to resolve the problems in this government is only three years."
The long-awaited cabinet, announced Thursday after Megawati became Indonesia's fifth president on July 23, has won wide praise. Professionals account for more than half the makeup, with 13 positions -- mainly less senior ones -- going to political parties.
Its first meeting next Monday will discuss a work schedule.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, coordinating (senior) minister for security and political affairs, said his priorities would be to maintain the country's territorial integrity and uphold law and order.
"Maintaining national and territorial integration is a must," Yodhoyono told reporters.
He said the government would continue to apply a "comprehensive approach" in dealing with separatism in Aceh and Irian Jaya but gave no details.
At least 30 civilians died Thursday in the latest massacre in Aceh on Sumatra island. The army and separatist rebels blamed each other.
Megawati has stressed the need for territorial integrity in the huge archipelago. Separatist movements have gained heart from the August 1999 East Timor independence vote.
Apart from separatism, communal unrest is tearing apart parts of Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Maluku.
On the economic front the cabinet must grapple with a 140-billion-dollar public and private foreign debt, rising unemployment, double-digit inflation and a rupiah which has plunged from around 2,000 to the dollar in July 1997.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has suspended the next 400 million dollar installment of its aid to Indonesia pending economic reforms. The new administration must mend ties with the IMF which were strained under former president Abdurrahman Wahid.
Dorojatun Kuncoro-Jakti, the coordinating economics minister, told reporters: "I would like very much for the IMF to be back in Jakarta as soon as possible.
"I think before the IMF holds its meeting in September in Washington and the CGI (Consultative Group on Indonesia) meeting in October, we'll have everything in line." He did not elaborate.
Bank Indonesia governor Syahril Sabirin said the central bank could work with the ministers.
The rupiah, which rose to around 9,000 to the dollar after the cabinet announcement Thursday, "can get to around 8,000 as long as there is political stability," he said.
The Jakarta Post's Friday editorial said the delay in announcing the cabinet was "worth the wait, judging from the integrity, professionalism and inclusiveness of her core working team.
"The ministers fully met market expectations while still accommodating the competing interests of major political parties to maintain a good rapport with the House of Representatives," it said -- JAKARTA (AFP)
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