P

rofessional ministers without backing from political parties in the next Cabinet should increase their political skills, a discussion concluded Thursday.

"They must be able to politically communicate with political parties' legislators in the House of Representatives," said an expert from the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), Burhanuddin Muhtadi, during a discussion at the Young Indonesian Union (PIM) in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Thursday.

"No matter how skilful professional ministers are, they will not be able to apply their programs efficiently without proper political communication skills."

Therefore, Burhanuddin emphasized that the elected president to pick professionals with sufficient political skills in the next Cabinet.

There are growing expectations among intellectuals to have a much more professional Cabinet once incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's re-election is confirmed. Yudhoyono leads the presidential race with some 60 percent of votes as shown by unofficial quick count results.

Burhanuddin also said establishing a professional Cabinet would be easier said than done because Yudhoyono had established a political coalition with various political parties, whose leaders had demanded power sharing in the next Cabinet.

"That is the dilemma in our half-hearted presidential system. The elected president will not be able to efficiently launch a policy or program without the approval of the legislators at the House of Representatives.

"A president must form a coalition with various political parties to ensure enough support from legislators at the House. Legislators will give their supports in exchange for Cabinet seats for their leaders."

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the first party to pledge allegiance to Yudhoyono's Democratic Party (PD) prior to the July 8 presidential election, is reportedly to have demanded eight out of 34 possible ministerial posts.

An expert from Pelita Harapan University, Aleksius Jemadu, told The Jakarta Post it was not necessary for professional ministers to have political proficiency.

"Their lack in political skills is substituted with their argumentative superiority. They must be able to use this power of argument when dealing with lawmakers," he said.

"They can also use their superiority in technical and practical proficiency to convince legislators to give out approvals."

However, Aleksius admitted the next president needed a great amount of wisdom to deal with the coalition partners over ministerial posts allocation.

"The president must have the wisdom to firmly determine the proper proportion between professionals and party leaders in the next Cabinet. "The president should choose the ones who have vast knowledge in their respective fields and sectors."