Easier to become a minister than a legislator

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

One thing that people tend to overlook regarding the legislative election is the fact that it is easier to become a minister than a legislator.

As in many other countries, ministerial appointments in Indonesia are the exclusive privilege of the president-elect. There is no regulation stipulating the criteria for becoming a minister, but it is an arduous task to become a legislator.

An aspiring legislative candidate must complete a long list of requirements from the General Election Commission (KPU) to ensure they have good health, morality, a certain level of education and little or no debt.

"Such a tough process disqualified some of our candidates," said Soetjipto, secretary-general of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). And they have spend a lot of their own money to promote themselves to the public.

Worst still, there is no guarantee that after that whole rigmarole, that it will pay off by giving them a seat in one of the legislative assemblies, unless one was nominated by a major political party and got one of the top positions on the ballot paper.

However, for a minister there is not a single standardized prerequisite.

"The president has all the authority to choose one," former minister of women's empowerment Khofifah Indar Parawansa said.

The nation could have a new president after the July 5 election results, but with a likely runoff on Sept. 20 a new president will be inaugurated in October. The current ministers have served in the Cabinet since August 2001.

With such a great amount of authority, horse-trading among political parties is not uncommon -- especially when there is not a clear mandate for one party -- as a means to influence the newly elected president's Cabinet decisions.

Khofifah, who was a legislator before she became a minister, said the lack of requirements for a minister was often reflected in the sub-par performances by some ministers. She added that the ministries with weak ministers were usually run by more mature bureaucrats within the ministry.

"We can see for example that we have not had a defense minister for months and still the office is running because of the staff at the ministry," she explained.

Minister of Defense Matori Abdul Djalil has been mostly bed- ridden since suffering a stroke in August and President Megawati Soekarnoputri never got around to appointing an interim minister to run things, despite martial law in Aceh.

Khofifah said that there should be a regulation to at least set a minimum benchmark for a ministerial position.

Malaysia could serve as a model, she said, where ministers are chosen from experienced figures among the parliament.