House criticized over ministry bill

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.