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