Surjadi revamps home affairs ministry

Surjadi revamps home affairs ministry

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Home Affairs Surjadi Sudirdja is
revamping the Home Affairs Ministry by phasing out almost a third
of the structural positions in the department, but pledged that
not a single employee would be dismissed.

The efficiency measures were aimed at increasing efficiency.

"More than 30 percent of structural positions in all echelons
is being phased out and all employees from these directorates and
sections are being transferred to other ones," he said during a
ceremony inducting 63 officials at the ministry on Wednesday.

"All this is aimed at making the ministry more efficient," he
added.

The planning section at the secretariat general was phased out
while the number of regional inspectors at the inspectorate
general's office was reduced from eight to five.

Surjadi pledged that the ministry would no longer deal with
sociopolitical affairs and intervene in internal matters of
political parties and mass organizations as the directorate
general was revamped to be a section dealing with national unity
and public protection.

"The present home affairs minister has less tasks because he
will have no sociopolitical affairs responsibilities with
political parties and mass organizations," he said.

Surjadi added that the Directorate General for Public
Administration and Regional Autonomy was revamped to form a
branch dealing with public administration since President
Abdurrahman Wahid appointed Riyaas Rasyid as state minister of
regional autonomy.

He said the Directorate General for Rural Development Affairs
would focus on public administrations at rural level,
entrepreneurship and applied technology in rural areas.

He said several positions in the research and development
planning and training sections and in the secretariat general at
the General Election Commission were also phased out.

Surjadi also said the ministry's reorganization was in line
with the upcoming implementation of regional autonomy.

He said as a result of the regional autonomy the ministry was
decentralizing a major part, or about 60 percent, of its
authority to provinces and regencies. (rms)