Presidential candidates asked to discuss ministry bill

Presidential candidates asked to discuss ministry bill

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta

All five presidential candidates have been invited to show up at
the House of Representatives (DPR) on Monday to give advice and
suggestions to lawmakers on the ministerial offices bill.

Legislator Zain Badjeber, deputy chairman of the committee
deliberating the bill, said on Thursday that lawmakers needed
advice from the candidates contesting the July 5 presidential
election.

"We have invited them all. We do not know whether they will
attend the hearing or simply send some of their campaign
managers," he said.

The five presidential candidates are Wiranto, Megawati
Soekarnoputri, Amien Rais, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Hamzah
Haz.

Talks on the ministerial offices bill started after 30 cross-
faction legislators proposed the draft legislation last March.

The bill, which consists of eight chapters and 17 articles,
mainly deals with the formation, modification and abolition of
ministries.

Currently, the president has the sole power to establish a
ministry, and does not require the consent of the House. As a
consequence, the president can easily make changes to or abolish
ministries.

Former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, for example,
abolished the politically tainted ministries of information and
social affairs in October 1999.

In 2001, however, President Megawati Soekarnoputri revived the
social affairs ministry and set up the communications and
information ministry.

The draft law divides ministerial offices into two groups --
ministerial offices with portfolios and ministerial offices
without portfolios.

It also provides that eight ministerial offices must be filled
by the president -- the Offices of the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Defense, Minister
of Religious Affairs, Minister of National Education, Minister of
Heath, Minister of Legislation and Human Rights and Minister of
Finance.

The president may also appoint coordinating ministers to
synchronize the work of the ministers who are subordinate to
them.

The president cannot abolish these eight ministries, but can
abolish or establish other ministries with the consent of the
House of Representatives (DPR).

Come what may, Zain said, all presidential candidates would
have to maintain the existence of the Ministry of Defense, the
Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as
the incumbent ministers in these departments would form the
triumvirate that would take over the reins of state in the event
that both the president and vice president were incapacitated.