JAKARTA Indonesia's beleaguered President Abdurrahman Wahid is likely to reshuffle his discredited cabinet later this month, his Foreign Minister and confidant Alwi Shihab said on Tuesday.
The promised move should go some way to soothing an increasingly angry top legislative assembly which on Tuesday will respond to Wahid's account the previous day of his turbulent 10 months in power.
"I am almost certain it will be after the (MPR) meeting," Shihab told reporters. The meeting ends on August 18.
Shihab gave no details but many analysts expect substantial changes including the heavily criticized economic ministers.
An apologetic Wahid on Monday, speaking at the start of the meeting of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), said he needed more time to pull the violence-torn and near bankrupt nation back on its feet.
He promised to press on with economic reform, revamp his cabinet and crush separatism which he said threatened to dismember the huge and multiethnic tropical archipelago.
His "progress report" will be followed on Tuesday by responses from the different MPR factions. Wahid will in turn respond to them on Wednesday.
The MPR, which also has the power to cut short his five-year term, elected Wahid to office last October in the hope he could lead Indonesia out of the savage recession and social turmoil sparked by the Asian financial crisis and the stormy end to former autocrat Suharto's long rule.
Speech Only "Okay" The initial reaction to Wahid's speech was lukewarm, with MPR speaker and leading Wahid critic calling it no more than "okay".
Another powerful critic and leader of the second largest political party, Akbar Tandjung, accused Wahid of being too general in his comments.
But others said the speech and its apologetic tone missing the sometimes barbed jokes that Wahid normally likes to use was enough to win him more time as leader of the world's fourth most populous country.
"Indonesians all over the country can draw a breath of relief ... it seems that the embattled president has weathered the storm of criticism for now," the Jakarta Post said.
Mutterings about impeachment have all but faded and many analysts say the 60-year old Muslim cleric's main defense is that there is no one better to replace him.
They warn too that to snatch power from him at a time when the country remains so unstable would be more likely to send it spinning in the direction of collapse than help it out of almost three years of misery.
But Indonesia's first democratically-elected president is expected to come under notice from the 700-member assembly which includes the 500 members of Parliament to do a better job or step down.
Failures Outweigh Successes His successes such as pushing the once powerful military to the political sidelines and promoting democracy have been overshadowed by continued sectarian violence, corruption and scandal which have in turn haunted the financial markets.
Wahid has also come under attack for a haphazard management style and for his frequently controversial and quite often contradictory statements.
The 10-day MPR session marks a turning point in Indonesia's stormy transition to democracy which is teetering on the thin edge between stability and mayhem.
Wahid's party holds less than 10 percent of the MPR and relies for his survival on his own political guile as well as a shaky alliance of Muslims, reformists and populists.
One newspaper editorial said just as much blame for the country's precarious state lies with the MPR itself.
"The gentlemen who are convening (the session) ... are part of the problem if not the perpetrators," the Media Indonesia daily said in an editorial.
"Please agree to make this meeting a solution so it will not add more to the list of problems. Without it, this meeting will only be a sham," it said.
Tens of thousands of police and troops are on the streets of Jakarta in a bid to prevent violent protests during the session.
Police have threatened to shoot rioters on sight.
So far there have been no significant disturbances.
Besides evaluating Wahid, MPR delegates will debate constitutional amendments that could alter the political landscape in the world's fourth most populous country.
On the agenda will be issues such as a direct presidential election and establishment of a prime ministerial system.
(Reuter)