Government sets up agencies for dissolved ministries

Government sets up agencies for dissolved ministries

JAKARTA (JP): The government announced on Thursday that it had
set up two agencies to accommodate more than 70,000 employees of
the dissolved information and social services ministries.

State Minister of Administrative Reforms Freddy Numberi said
that President Abdurrahman Wahid passed on Tuesday decree
152/1999, which instructs the displaced employees to be
transferred to the Information and Communication Agency and the
Social Welfare Agency.

"We hope that this presidential decree will calm the situation
down and give certainty to the former employees of the
information and social services ministries," Freddy said from his
office.

He said the Information and Communication Agency would be
responsible to the President, and that its operations would be
coordinated by the office of the coordinating minister for
political affairs and security.

The Social Welfare Agency would be coordinated by the office
of the coordinating minister for social welfare and poverty
eradication, he said.

Freddy also said that the process of transferring the
displaced employees to the agencies would be completed by the end
of March.

The President's decision to abolish the information and social
service ministries in late October triggered nationwide protests
from employees of the closed down ministries.

Abdurrahman however maintained that the closures were part of
the administration's drive to streamline the Cabinet and to
delegate more power and tasks to regional administrations as
mandated in the new regional autonomy law.

He said the information ministry had been used as a propaganda
tool during the 32 years of former president Soeharto's rule,
while the presence of the social services ministry would only
hinder the public from assuming their social responsibilities.
(04/byg)