Over the last few days, the Indonesian media has extensively reported a serious conflict among cabinet members regarding the position of Finance Minister Sri Mulyani.

The conflict is related to Mulyani's insistence on rejecting the use of state funds to bail out private companies owned by the family of Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, who wants to sell off assets to repay US$1.2 billion in debts that will mature in the coming months.

Apparently, "the renegade minister" seems to be a single fighter in the cabinet as other ministers and even Vice President Jusuf Kalla (JK) tacitly support the bailout or have not objected it out of hand. It remains to be seen how President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) is going to solve this problem without jeopardizing his own political interests.

It is clear that the main protagonists in this controversy are Aburizal Bakrie and Sri Mulyani. In order to understand the anatomy of the conflict between the two we need to put the two cabinet ministers within their own social and political contexts.

Aburizal Bakrie is known to be one of the richest persons in Indonesia today. The business empire controlled by his family includes lucrative sectors like plantations, telecommunications, mining and property.

When JK became the chairman of the Golkar Party replacing Akbar Tandjung just a few months after he was sworn in as vice president in October 2004, Bakrie was one of "the determinant factors" behind his victory. Bakrie also contributed a lot to the successful election of SBY and JK as president and vice president, respectively, in 2004. Now consider if Bakrie is in a very powerful bargaining position within the cabinet today.

Sri Mulyani is her own person. Her main weapon is the combination of her sharp mind and personal integrity. Her commitment to her job as finance minister and to good governance is unshakeable no matter how strong the resistance from those who have lost their economic appropriation due to her anti-corruption policies.

Sri Mulyani is a good example for our intellectuals who are invited to hold high positions in government bureaucracies without compromising basic moral principles for the sake of public interests.

According to media reports, there have been intensive efforts on the part of those who dislike Sri Mulyani's policies to replace her as finance minister. President SBY is confronted with a difficult choice as are the top executives who have the authority to appoint and dismiss cabinet ministers.

SBY's political liability is that he comes from a small political party that still needs the support of the Golkar Party as his coalition partner.

There is a high probability that this coalition will be maintained in the 2009 presidential election as it is quite unlikely that SBY will find a more politically feasible candidate for vice president than JK.

On top of that, there is now speculation in the media that in 2009 the most serious challenge to SBY and JK will come from the coalition of Megawati Soekarnoputri and Hidayat Nurwahid as candidates for president and vice president from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS). Thus, there is a pressing need for SBY to maintain good relations with both JK and Aburizal Bakrie.

At the same time, it is not easy for SBY to marginalize a strong personality like Sri Mulyani. In fact, it would be political suicide for him to do such a thing. Why?

First, SBY often claims his government has been successful in eradicating corruption. He will look inconsistent in the eyes of the public if he tries to get rid of a person who has translated his anti-corruption policies into real and effective actions.

Second, Sri Mulyani has become a symbol of resistance against any attempt by the rich people to escape from their personal responsibility by creating an unnecessary burden on state budgets.

Last but not least, no one can argue with a life that has been morally well lived. No matter what happens to her job, Sri Mulyani will always come out as the moral winner.

The writer is a professor at the Department of International Relations of UNPAR Bandung. He can be reached at aleks@home.unpar.ac.id

Popular

RI, Australia strengthen partnership on taxing crypto assets

Analysis: Indonesia denies normalization with Israel to enter OECD

Citroen to produce electric cars in Indonesia