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)