Responsibility of the Vice President

Responsibility of the Vice President

From Kompas

Ever since President Megawati Soekarnoputri led her Cabinet
into office about a year and a half ago, the role of Hamzah Haz
as Vice President has been outstanding. Almost every day he makes
a statement on a wide range of issues in the country. Just
imagine, if on average he made four statements a week, then in
one year he would have made 224 statements, whereas President
Megawati Soekarnoputri has scarcely spoken.

The substance of the Vice President's statements has taken on
issues that should be under the authority of three Cabinet
ministers, namely the coordinating minister for political and
security affairs, the coordinating minister for the economy and
the coordinating minister for the peoples' welfare.

It is these three ministers who should be making statements in
their respective area of responsibility, not the Vice President.
Also, other state officials are given the task to make statements
within his or her jurisdiction. For example, it is the
responsibility of the speaker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
to speak out on the raids conducted on Indonesian citizens living
in Australia by the local police and intelligence agency. This is
to avoid confusion or even contradiction in addressing the issues
being handled.

Although the Vice President is the number two figure in the
country, according to the 1945 Constitution, the Vice President
is the President's assistant, and thus has the same level of
authority as the other ministers.

So what really is the responsibility of Vice President Hamzah
Haz? Given the above criteria, the Vice President should be
assigned the task of supervising the execution of development
programs as was shouldered by former vice president Try Sutrisno.

B. MUNADJAD, Jakarta