Mega told to retain ultimate authority<\/p>\n
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Political analysts have urged President Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri, who delegates too much of her power to her chief
\nministers, to retain ultimate authority over all governmental
\nmatters.<\/p>\n
Kusnanto Anggoro of the Centre for Strategic and International
\nStudies (CSIS) said on Thursday that the President's willingness
\nto delegate some of her authority to others may be an
\nacknowledgement on her part of a lack of the requisite managerial
\nskills.<\/p>\n
\"Such a system is okay as long as the President is still in
\nfull command. She should also make all government decisions
\nbecause ultimately she should account for all that she has done
\nbefore the People's Consultative Assembly,\" Kusnanto told The
\nJakarta Post.<\/p>\n
The problem was that the President would be faced with various
\ndifficulties if her aides abused their authority for their own
\npolitical gain or if her aides were more dominant than the
\nPresident herself.<\/p>\n
Megawati could prevent such problems by insisting that all
\ndecisions had to be made in Cabinet meetings, not in
\ncoordination meetings led by the coordinating ministers.<\/p>\n
Indria Samego of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI)
\nshares Kusnanto's views, saying that Megawati needed to use
\neffective leadership skills to monitor her aides, especially
\nthose who have various political interests.<\/p>\n
\"If necessary she can reprimand those aides who she thinks
\nhave failed to abide by her policies,\" Indria told the Post.<\/p>\n
He said that such warnings were necessary for ministers who
\nhad made excessive use of their positions to pursue their own
\npolitical interests.<\/p>\n
Indria said it would not be unusual to see her aides pursue
\ntheir own particular political agendas in the lead up to the 2004
\ngeneral election.<\/p>\n
Ryaas Rasyid, former regional autonomy minister, said that the
\nmost important thing was for Megawati to give her aides clear-cut
\nguidelines setting out those political activities that were
\nacceptable and those that were not.<\/p>\n
Megawati and her aides should abide by the regulations chosen
\nby the President, Ryaas said, adding that she had to issue a
\nreprimand as soon as she found that any of her aides had deviated
\nfrom the guidelines.<\/p>\n
\"What I know about Megawati is that she fully entrusts
\neverything to her staff. Therefore, both the good and the bad
\naspects of her government very much depend on them,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Supporting Indria's opinion, Ryaas said it was not wrong for
\nMegawati's aides to have their own political agenda, but added
\nthat all activities conducted by her aides in connection with
\ngovernment affairs should be under her control.<\/p>\n
\"Megawati cannot ban her aides from being involved in politics
\nbecause she herself is still the chairperson of a political
\nparty. But she has the right to control the activities of her
\naides,\" said Ryaas, who is also an expert on constitutional law.<\/p>\n
Samego said the impression that Megawati could not control her
\naides was caused by an inability to articulate government policy
\nby herself.<\/p>\n
He said that when she assumed her vice presidency her
\nsecretary Bambang Kesowo took the leading role in articulating
\nMegawati's policies.<\/p>\n
\"We hoped that she would change after she became the number
\none person in the country. But it seems this has not been easy,
\nso that coordinating ministers seem more dominant than Megawati,\"
\nhe added.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Pratikno, a lecturer at the school of social and
\npolitical sciences at the Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University
\nsaid that, since the beginning, Megawati had established a system
\nthat delegated some of her power to her aides.<\/p>\n
\"It is actually good for institutional development. Not all
\nproblems should be handled by the President herself,\" Pratikno
\nsaid on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Pratikno said that problems arose if the system was not
\nconsistently implemented and a particular trusted person used his
\nposition for his own political interests. But such weaknesses of
\nthe system could be minimized by creating an effective control
\nmechanism, he added.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/mega-told-to-retain-ultimate-authority-1447893297",
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