House agrees to revamp ministries
House agrees to revamp ministries
Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta
Despite the government's opposition, the House of
Representatives' Committee deliberating the cabinet ministry bill
has agreed the next cabinet would comprise at least 19 ministries
with supporting offices in the regions.
The agreement sees some of the existing ministries maintained
and others disbanded.
Committee member Ahmad Hafiz Zawawi said the cabinet
composition could still change if the present government came up
with new ideas.
"We will discuss the bill's content soon with the government
and this may change the lineup," Hafiz of Golkar said on
Saturday.
According the Constitution the country adopts a presidential
system, in which the president has the right to choose his/her
own ministers and the Cabinet is responsible to the president.
Among the disbanded ministries are the Ministry of
Resettlement and Regional Infrastructures and the Ministry of
Transmigration.
The committee decided to replace the Ministry of Resettlement
and Regional Infrastructures with the Ministry of Public Works,
and to scrap the Ministry of Transmigration because its existence
was no longer relevant.
The Ministry of Telecommunication and Internet-based
Information, called the Ministry of telematika, will replace the
Ministry of Communication and Information, which legislators said
was not effective.
They also shelved a planned revival of the Ministry of
Information, which had sparked public fears about a return to the
New Order era when the press was muzzled.
"We have agreed not to revive the Ministry of Information. But
we have agreed to include the Ministry of Telematika into the
bill," Effendy Choirie of the National Awakening Party (PKB)
faction said.
The consensus was part of an internal deliberation among House
factions on the cabinet ministry bill.
Different from the existing Ministry of Communication and
Information, the Ministry of Telematika will have sole charge of
regulating the use of radio frequencies and the flow of Internet-
based information.
The new ministry would not interfere the content of newspapers
or broadcasting programs, Choirie said.
The meeting also agreed to divide the new cabinet into two
groups of ministries: the ministries with portfolios and those
without.
The ministries with portfolios would have a line of command
stretching down to the regional administration level.
Ministries with portfolios include the Ministry of Defense,
the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.
"Those three ministers are mandatory because they will form a
triumvirate that will take over power, should the president and
the vice president be unable to carry out their state duties,"
Lukman Hakim Syaifuddin of the United Development Party (PPP)
said.
Other ministries with portfolios are the Ministry of Finance,
the Ministry of Law and Legislation, the Ministry of Religious
Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the
Ministry of the People's Welfare, the Ministry of Forestry, and
the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.
The House' deliberation on the bill had yet to involve the
government as President Megawati Soekarnoputri had not assigned a
minister to represent it.
Lawmakers also wanted to finish deliberating the bill setting
up the presidential advisory council before concluding their
terms in office. The group is to help the next president form his
or her cabinet.