New Order in Jakarta

...The six deputy prime ministers merely got up silently and left...

...Chalid remains chairman of the powerful Moslem Scholars' party despite widespread opposition from the party's anti-Communists, who charge that he failed to fight the Communists before the coup...

...They are afraid that if Sukarno is removed, the "Young Turks" of Indonesia's Armed Forces-impatient junior officers and others-will try to form a Right-wing military dictatorship...

...It seemed obvious from this development that they had been the focal points of the greatest controversy in forming the Cabinet...

...I formed the new Cabinet," Sukarno claimed with characteristic gusto and self-assurance...

...One reason for the likelihood of close relations between Indonesia and the Soviet Union is that Indonesia needs spare parts for military equipment, including ships, planes and tanks, supplied by Moscow in the past 10 years...

...Although the duties of the deputy prime ministers had not been spelled out in the "interim" presidium, no one was surprised that the Sultan, Malik and Suharto should form a triumvirate wielding the real authority...

...The reaction, in fact, was surprisingly swift-and almost entirely negative...

...It is my Cabinet...

...Students and military officers were especially angry that three of the President's oldest cronies, Dr...

...The anti-Communists have another reason for wanting Sukarno in office-one that has been virtually unpublicized and would seem implausible to many foreigners not accustomed to the ironies of Indonesian politics...

...Malik and General Suharto...

...I am still the Supreme Commander...

...President Sukarno himself went through the ritual of listing the six presidium members in a voice that was barely audible...

...Leimena, Dr...

...One of the KAMI leaders told me the students plan to resume demonstrations-"but not on such a large scale"-and will also try to realize their demands through political parties and other conventional channels...

...The surprise was that they had bowed to the President's demands by letting the three other presidium members hold the top titles-or even sit on the presidium at all...

...The students are slowly returning to classes...

...It is difficult to believe, however, that Suharto, the man who really defied the President and forced him to outlaw the Communist party (PKI), was not pleased to find himself in both titular and actual control of the nation's entire defense establishment...

...Hamengku Buwono, the Sultan of Jogjakarta, ranks as fourth deputy prime minister in charge of all economic and financial affairs, General Suharto is fifth deputy for defense and security and Dr...

...He and Buwono, in charge of such diverse ministries as agriculture, public works and power, communications and industries, among others, will be directly responsible for meeting the fundamental demands of KAMI, the Pantjasila Front and other important organizations...

...The objections of the Action Command (KAMI) were echoed by newspapers and political parties, all of whom regarded the Cabinet as a compromise pleasing to no one...

...Some observers believe he may wait for a year or so until the situation has calmed down before trying once more to reassert his authority...

...It is not anyone else's Cabinet...

...Another surprise was that both Suharto and Chalid were named deputy prime ministers "ad interim...

...Chalid, as chairman of the Moslem Scholars' party (NU), has considerable backing among Moslems, but he also has inspired the dislike of two of his party's three vice chairmen...

...Abdulgani stated that the deputy ministers would not hold cabinet rank and would be responsible not to the President but to the ministers directly above them...

...Presumably General Suharto will fight to ward off the rebellious in roads of angry students, ambitious young military officers and Leftist supporters of President Sukarno-not to mention the President himself...

...Whatever course Sukarno follows, he will have to face the formidable authority of the Sultan, Dr...

...An inner struggle, largely unpublicized, is likely to revolve around Chalid, whose continued presence on the presidium may well result in serious divisions among Indonesia's Moslems, 90 per cent of the country's 106 million population...

...Another enemy of the students and other anti-Communists is Sumamo, who remains minister of finance, also under the Sultan...

...Chaerul Saleh, former third deputy prime minister, reputed to have embezzled millions of dollars from the Indonesian government and banked it abroad...

...The most hated among these are Dr...

...The only deputy prime minister who was not on the "interim" presidium was General Suharto, whose powerful position had been clear ever since Sukarno authorized him to run the country on March 11...

...One of them spoke angrily to me of General Ibnu Sutowo, who was minister of oil and mines under Chaerul Saleh and now holds the same title under Hamengku Buwono...

...I can only try to satisfy as many as possible...

...Eventually, they hope, the country will be able to hold free elections, not only for members of Parliament, now completely powerless, but for the Presidency as well...

...We would lose our mass support...

...He also fired Dr...

...Subandrio, deposed as first deputy prime minister and foreign minister, who forged Indonesia's ill-fated alliance with People's China, and Dr...

...Abdulgani head such meaningless propaganda organs as the People's Consultative Congress and the National Front, among others...

...Adam Malik is sixth deputy for "social-political affairs" and also foreign minister...

...Indonesia, in short, appears headed for a long, hot summer of political wrangling and crises...

...It remains to be seen whether Nasution will be able to use the Crush Malaysia Command, known as the Supreme Operations Command before February 22, as a stepping stone to the presidium...

...Just as Indonesia's anti-Communist Moslem officials are not quite willing to oppose Chalid openly, so anti-Communists in general are still wary of frankly expressing their opinion about Sukarno...

...Abdulgani, once the secretarygeneral of the foreign ministry, has sided with both Sukarno and the armed forces in the past few years but was regarded as one of Sukarno's allies before last fall's abortive Communist coup...

...Chalid and Dr...

...The pattern of Indonesia's new top leadership was set on March 18...

...But, you see, we need Sukarno," a young member of the faculty of the University of Indonesia patiently explained to me...

...After the President had left the room, Dr...

...At the same time, they are afraid to come out openly against Chalid, whom they fear has the support of old-line Moslems who still revere Sukarno...

...Observers believe the presence of deputy ministers was a concession to Sukarno, who saw a chance to include still more members of his old Cabinet...

...The Sultan, who has emerged as possibly the leading candidate to succeed Sukarno in case he is finally forced to give up his titles, was principally responsible for advising the old Supreme Operations Command on economic affairs...

...They have two more months of school before summer vacations begin...

...But the new government must move fast if it is to enjoy any success at all...

...Besides objecting to the formation of the presidium, the students are openly sceptical of holdovers from the old Cabinet in positions below the presidium...

...They actually regard Sukarno's presence in office as a form of protection for whatever potential Indonesia still has for democracy...

...One of them, Z. E. Subchan, heads the Pantjasila Front that has coordinated the civilian side of the antiCommunist struggle ever since October 1, the day of the coup...

...Leimena, a political neuter, shrewd enough to have offended no one, was second deputy prime minister in the President's old 100man Cabinet and fifth deputy prime minister in the "interim" Cabinet appointed by Suharto on March 18...

...Suharto and Adjie's deepest fear is that, if Sukarno resigns, a civil war may develop between elements in the Army and Indonesians who continue to worship Sukarno...

...The country's anti-Communists, however, have made clear they will not tolerate the new Cabinet for long if it is unable to find a cure for the economic and political chaos that has overwhelmed the country in recent years...

...Students also object strongly to the presence of more than 40 deputy ministers responsible to the ministers...

...He has ruined our finances," said the student...

...Malik also has overall supervision of the department of home affairs and ministries of religion, basic education and culture, information, social affairs, justice, labor and health...

...Idham Chalid and Dr...

...If the audience of newsmen and photographers was not enthusiastic, the Indonesian public was even less so...

...Both Subchan and Dachlan, as well as the many Moslems and other Indonesians who support them, have charged privately that Chalid is "too inclined to temporize and compromise" with the Communists...

...Then, as they have said repeatedly in the past few days, they will again raise the cry for "reshuffling" the Cabinet...

...They say the only problem with Sukarno's government was "his assistants," 15 of whom were arrested on March 18...

...Far from being simple, the new Cabinet structure is more complicated than before...

...But I cannot satisfy everyone," he explained apologetically...

...Roselan Abdulgani should rank as first, second and third deputy prime ministers respectively...

...There were neither questions nor applause when he was through...

...Nasution, meanwhile, was restored to the position of deputy supreme commander of the Crush Malaysia Command, from which he had also been dismissed in February...

...They might even start fighting for him...

...Malik, former ambassador to the Soviet Union, will doubtless override Sukarno's desire to maintain good relations with Peking and will develop a neutral stance vis-avis the United States, the Soviet Union and China...

...He has made himself rich off the country," the student said...

...Veteran observers here already regard more conflict as inevitable and tend to view the "new" Cabinet as just another "interim" political step...

...Chalid, he apparently remains on the presidium merely to please Sukarno, who has regarded him as an old friend ever since he began supporting the President's far-Leftist ideological views several years ago...

...The Action Command of Indonesian Students, responsible for the series of student demonstrations that led Sukarno to yield power to General Suharto, his Army commander, promptly put out a statement charging the Cabinet belonged "to vested interests," who were ambivalent about their political views and "unable to administer economic affairs...

...While Sukarno's friends have the most impressive titles, his enemies -or at least his political rivalshold the power...

...The day after the Cabinet was announced, however, Dr...

...Almost to a man, they tell foreign correspondents that they regard the President as "the great leader of our revolution...

...It is impossible...

...Perhaps the most objectionable of these, from the point of view of KAMI and the Pantjasila Front, is Mohammed Djambak, deputy minister of the National Front, associated with the far-Left wing of the Indonesian Nationalist party (PNI...

...He must go...

...Sukarno's fear of the Sultan was manifest when he dismissed him from the command in February, along with Nasution...

...Indeed, informed sources said Sukarno was wrangling with Suharto and his principal allies only minutes before announcing the names...

...They have given the government no longer than that to prove its ability to pull Indonesia out of the mire of corruption, economic disorder and political deterioration...

...The President did not seem in a mood for waiting, however, when he installed his new Cabinet at the ceremony in the State Palace...

...Johannes Leimena, the new First Deputy Prime Minister, read the names of the 32-man Cabinet beneath the presidium...

...Although he was disillusioned with the Soviet system during his stay in Moscow, he may direct Indonesia's foreign policy toward Moscow while still attempting to restore cordial relations with the United States...

...Even more surprisingly, General Suharto supports this point of view, along with General Ibrahim Adjie, commander of the vaunted Siliwangi division and one of the first military leaders to ban the PKI in his area after the coup...

...Donald Kirk, an American free lance correspondent, returned to Jakarta from Hong Kong last week...

...Leimena merely supervises some administrative details while Dr...

...We will give them (the new Cabinet) a chance," he said, "maybe one or two months...

...They idolize Sukarno...

...What is he doing in that job...

...In contrast, Dr...

...Just how much maneuvering Sukarno will do at the start is a topic of debate here...

...Abdulgani, but apparently as only an incidental part of his purge of Nasution and Buwono...

...The President, up to his usual oratorical form, admitted that not everyone was satisfied...

...The six, sitting beside him in the reception room of Merdeka -for "freedom"-palace, did not alter their somber expressions during the brief recitation...

...In its statement, KAMI remarked, "It is difficult to expect coordination and unity of command between the ministers, the ministries and all the departments...

...The prevailing theory was that Suharto had merely accepted the position of deputy premier because Sukarno was adamant in his dislike for General Abdul Haris Nasution, the popular defense minister whom he had dismissed on February 21 in an effort to rob the Armed Forces of power and prestige and reassert his own authority...

...Thus Sukarno will not find it so easy to undermine the power of ministers whom he dislikes, although it seems almost certain that he will do all he can to maneuver with allies at any level of government...

...The real opinions of Indonesia's anti-Communist students, military officers, professors and others only became clear during prolonged discussions...

...What are they going to do if they hear we've thrown him out...

...The other, Mohammed Dachlan, has been the guiding force behind the NU youth group, responsible for slaughtering thousands of Communists, particularly in East Java...

...Then we will start moving again...

...As for Dr...

...Either way, the result could well be more dictatorshipand defeat of their dreams for the development of democracy, legality, and freedom of expression in Indonesia...

...In parts of middle and East Java, there are millions of people who don't even know there's been a big change in the government...

...I am still the leader of our Great Revolution...