House criticized over ministry bill
Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta
Legal experts criticized the House of Representatives on Thursday for being too diligent in deliberating the ministerial offices bill, suggesting that the lawmakers focus solely on the setting up of basic ministries.
A House special committee for the bill's deliberation announced on Tuesday that it would offer 31 ministries to the next president.
Of the 31 ministries, 21 will have supporting offices in the regions (known as portfolio ministries) while the remaining 10 will only have offices in Jakarta (non-portfolio ministries).
The bill is still to be discussed with the government.
Currently, the government of President Megawati Soekarnoputri has 30 ministerial offices, including those of three coordinating ministers.
"Of course, stipulations in the bill must not limit the rights of the president. There must be a clause that allows the president to form ministries after consultation with the House," Sri Soemantri of Padjadjaran University told The Jakarta Post here on Thursday.
He suggested that House members focus solely on the establishment of portfolio ministries and give the president the chance to compile a complete list of ministerial offices.
While the country has a presidential system, the amended Constitution stipulates that ministerial offices be regulated by law, allowing the House to intervene in a president's choice of government members.
Bambang Widjojanto from the Partnership for Governance Reform also questioned the "ambition" of House members to dictate to the next president.
"The House should only discuss the need of the government to being the country out of the prolonged crisis without mentioning the number of ministerial offices," he said.
Bambang doubted that the bill's deliberation was the work of the House given the fact that only a small number of legislators were involved in the deliberation.
Roughly, fewer than 15 legislators of the 50-strong committee regularly attend deliberations of the bill.
"Is it the agenda of the House or a political exercise of a few legislators?" he asked.
Legislators Achmad Hafiz Zawawi and Baharuddin Aritonang also questioned on Thursday the inclusion of the ministry of finance and development supervision on the list of 31 ministries outlined by the House.
Aritonang said the inclusion of the ministry of finance and development supervision would only create dualism in the state audit.
"The state audit is the responsibility of the State Audit Agency (BPK)," said Aritonang, who is also a BPK member candidate.
Commenting on the plan to revive the ministry of youth affairs and sports, Sri Soemantri said that the ministry was needed to boost the achievements of Indonesian athletes.
Regarding the presence of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Sri said that the ministry was a legacy of past administrations.
Principally, Sri agreed with the composition of the ministerial offices prepared by the legislators.
According to him, 31 ministries were sufficient to deal with the problems of the country's 215 million people.