President should control ministers
President should control ministers
JAKARTA (JP): A political observer says the head of state
needs to take sterner action against errant ministers.
Maswadi Rauf, a lecturer at University of Indonesia's School
of Social and Political Sciences, told a seminar on clean
governance here Thursday, the head of state was responsible for
the establishment of a clean and respected government. He should
not, therefore, be reluctant to use his authority to correct
mismanagement by his subordinates.
Maswadi was referring to several ministers' controversial
deeds related to the financial management of their ministries. He
said there were at least two occasions when President Soeharto
had defended his subordinates instead of reprimanding them.
One of the most recent cases involved Minister of Mines and
Energy I.B. Sudjana who had ordered a transfer of funds from
state-owned coal mining company PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam
into his personal bank account.
Following the uproar, earlier this month President Soeharto
said the coal funds would be returned but there had been no
reports about whether the minister had made a management mistake.
In January, Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto was
cleared of alleged corruption involving billions of rupiah of
state funds. President said only that the minister had made
"administrative" mistakes.
"The President should use more frequently his authority to
impose sanctions against ministers who tarnish the government's
clean image," Maswadi said in a seminar held by the United
Development Party.
Maswadi said Soeharto functions as the head of state and head
of the government. "Because of this dual role, the President
plays an important role in creating a clean and respectable
government," he said.
As head of government, the President has the authority to
appoint and dismiss ministers.
Maswadi admitted, however, that a culturally-embedded
reluctance has so permeated Indonesia it was difficult for people
to tolerate a replacement in the cabinet even if they considered
a minister had tarnished the government's image.
Maswadi defined clean government as one which has majority
support, brings prosperity to the people, and translates their
demands and aspirations into policies.
Enforcement
Economist Faisal H. Basri shared Maswadi's view, citing the
need for better law enforcement even when it concerned officials
still in power.
He lamented how law has replaced rules and regulations and has
distorted values and norms, and how the judiciary system no
longer protects people from injustices but has become a tool for
corrupt officials to justify their misdeeds.
Faisal, known for his criticism of many government policies,
accused the authorities of creating injustices in the economy by
allowing certain businessmen to exploit Indonesian resources. In
this situation, he said, it's the public that loses out.
"Both those in power and businessmen get all the benefits of
economic exploitation, while the public, in this case the
consumers, have to bear all the losses inflicted by those
'colluding' in the authorities-businessmen deal," he said.
He cited monopoly practices in wheat flour, cloves, sugar,
palm oil, rice and high-octane gasoline as examples of the losses
the consumers must bear because of these deals.
Similar redistributions of benefits are found in the
imposition of new highway tariffs, the financing and sales of
aircraft of the State Aircraft Industry IPTN, the restructuring
of the privately-owned airline Sempati Air and the construction
of the Hang Nadim Airport on Batam island.
Referring to the government's protection of a local company
producing the controversial "National Car," Faisal called it a
redistribution of interest between car salesmen.
The government imposes special tax rates on PT Timor Putra
Nasional, a privately-owned car manufacturer, to take the
benefits of the car production and distribution monopoly away
from the hands of the already existing major automobile
manufacturers. (imn)