Kuntoro 'my eyes, my ears and my hands': SBY

Erwida Maulia, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 10/23/2009 10:50 PM

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono held Friday the maiden Cabinet meeting of his second term, consolidating new members and underlining his intent to run a tight ship.

In his two-hour address to the Cabinet, Yudhoyono, accompanied by Vice President Boediono, put a heavy emphasis on the importance of good teamwork to achieve progress and attain the 100-day, one-year and five-year targets, which Presidential Unit for the Management of Programs (UKP3) chairman Kuntoro Mangkusubroto helped draw up.

“The head of the presidential unit will, 24 hours a day and seven days a week, work to make sure that everything, including de-bottlenecking [of hindrances to development], run well,” Yudhoyono said at the opening of the meeting at the State Secretariat.

“He will, if necessary, be my eyes, my ears and my hands ... and I will set for him certain responsibilities that will not overlap with the [three] coordinating ministers.”

Seemingly drawing from past experience, Yudhoyono ordered all the ministers and state officials to set up hotline numbers to allow him to contact them at any given time.

He added he would not make any phone calls if he had nothing important to discuss.

“I hate it the most when I try to call a minister for one or two hours and they don’t answer, respond nor try to find out what I want,” he said.