Minister or Ministry?

The new government recently decided that two ministries, the Ministry of Information and Ministry of Social Affairs, were to be closed down, reportedly leaving about 78,000 employees in confusion of what life is going to be like in the days to come. Regardless of the pros and cons and aired reasons pertaining to the function and performance of the said ministries in the past decades, the 1945 Constitution does make this possible to happen as it is mentioned in the Articles of Chapter 17 that the President has the right to appoint and terminate ministers.

The only question left is for which historical context the founding fathers of this country actually referred to when they ratified this Chapter 17? Did they mean ministries are somehow established first and this chapter is only to facilitate the President to pick or kick out associated ministers as individuals? Or did they mean that with this Chapter the President could at any time establish or abolish any ministries as manned institutions?

As an opinion, and at the same time, as a proposal to Amien Rais, now is the right time for the committee of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in charge of the 1945 Constitution amendment to conduct a thorough review on this particular Chapter 17, especially in consideration of human rights. Without a related amendment, strict implementation of the presently valid Chapter 17 may lead to a similar situation in the future where employees of certain government institutions can suddenly lose their status overnight, most likely during the establishment of a new Cabinet. And although it sounds practically impossible, I could not imagine if someday, due to one reason or another, the Ministry of Defense is abolished. On the contrary, even in private businesses, a liquidation of a company is normally not made in such an abrupt manner.

ATTILA RAHAYOE

Bekasi, West Java