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.