Information ministry to be upgraded

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has issued a presidential decree to upgrade the Office of the State Minister for Communications and Information into a portfolio ministry that will also be given responsibility for posts and telecommunications.

The decree will allow the new ministry to establish offices in the country's 33 provinces.

Cabinet deputy secretary Erman Radjagukguk told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that the decree, signed late on Monday, gave the power to the President to transfer the posts and telecommunications directorate general from the Ministry of Transportation to the new ministry.

The President also issued another decree to provide a legal basis for the already established Ministry of Public Housing -- which in the previous Cabinet under president Megawati Soekarnoputri came under the auspices of the Ministry of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure -- and the revival of the Office of the State Minister for Youth and Sports Affairs -- by removing the sports directorate general from the Ministry of National Education as it existed in the previous administration.

The decree also provides for the splitting up of the Ministry of Industry and Trade into two ministries.

The above changes, except for the new ministry, actually came into effect when Susilo announced the line-up of his Cabinet on Oct. 21, 2004, even though a legal basis is only being provided now.

Both presidential decrees, however, appear to contradict Article 17 (4) of the 1945 Constitution, which stipulates that the establishment of, change in or dissolution of a Cabinet ministry must be provided for by law.

The stipulation allows the House to intervene in the establishment of ministries, despite the fact that Indonesia adheres to the presidential system of government.

"I can assure you that we (the government) have not contradicted any regulations, especially the Constitution," Erman said.

His statement was supported by Constitutional Law expert Sri Soemantri of Padjadjaran University who pointed out that the House could not claim a right to interfere in the establishment of the new ministry as there was no specific legislation governing the matter.

"The ministry's establishment is not against the Constitution as the House has yet to finish its deliberation on the ministerial offices," he told the Post.

The House postponed the deliberation of the ministerial offices bill last July due to a difference of opinion with the government. There has been no information to date as to whether or not the legislators intend to continue the bill's deliberation.

State Minister for Communications and Information Sofyan A. Djalil had earlier said that his new portfolio ministry would not pose any threat to press freedom.