Hearing with the President

Hearing with the President

Viewing the hearing (broadcast live by SCTV on Nov. 18, 1999) at the House of Representatives with the President and Vice President, I made a temporary conclusion that, evidently, the executive institution (president and vice president) and the legislators have yet to learn much about democracy.

This is so because they were dealing with the issues of abolishment of the ministry of information and ministry of social affairs and how to solve the problems therein, particularly concerning the existence of the civil servants whose careers and fate are uncertain.

Unfortunately, the hearing did not give a clear and positive solution to the crucial problems. Actually, perfect and satisfactory solution should have been found and the future fate of the civil servants of the two defunct ministries should have been settled.

To change the name of the information ministry to the ministry of communications and the social affairs ministry to the ministry of people's service is not to be worried about, provided the careers of each and every employee of the two ministries can continue with certainty.

There will be no need for the President to recruit new civil servants and build new offices, but channel the present human resources to the three newly established departments in the present Cabinet, namely: the ministry of maritime exploration, the ministry of human rights affairs and the ministry of social services. These ministries have no offices of their own, neither are fairly capable personnel available yet.

What was clear from the faces of the concerned civil servants after the hearing was the faint look of uncertainty and a big question mark about their future careers.

ZULASRIL

Jakarta