DATE=8/25/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDONESIA POL (L)
NUMBER=2-265844
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=JAKARTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid hands
greater powers to his vice president in a move
expected to appease some of his critics. Patricia
Nunan has this report from Jakarta.
TEXT: Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid signed
the decree transferring greater powers to Vice-
President Megawati Sukarnoputri. Those new
responsibilities will include determining the
government's priorities and setting the agenda for the
presidential cabinet.
The vice president will also review the performance of
individual ministers and appoint top bureaucrats,
military and police officers with the president's
approval.
President Wahid made the decision to grant more
authority to the vice president during the annual
meeting of the People's Consultative Assembly --
Indonesia's highest legislative body. The move is
intended, in part, to placate lawmakers disappointed
with the lack of progress in ending Indonesia's
economic and political crises.
In another bid to regain confidence in his abilities,
President Wahid also reshuffled and streamlined his
cabinet Wednesday - retaining many of the same people.
But he did appoint two new powerful coordinating
ministers in an effort to overcome the factionalism
that marked his first cabinet.
The move has met with mixed reviews.
Officials with the PDI-P, Ms. Megawati's People's
Democratic Party of Struggle, say she is disappointed
with the new cabinet line-up because only two of the
ministers belong her party. The vice president did not
even attend the news conference where the new
ministers were named and she has yet to comment
publicly on the appointments. Rumors are rampant that
the new cabinet has driven a bigger wedge between the
president and his deputy.
However, Mr. Wahid visited Ms. Megawati at her private
residence Thursday night -- a gesture analysts say was
intended to smooth over any problems between the two.
The content of their discussion has not been released.
The vice president is expected to inaugurate the new
cabinet on Saturday. (signed)
NEB/HK/PN/GC/JO
25-Aug-2000 06:13 AM EDT (25-Aug-2000 1013 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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