Susilo may revive information ministry
Susilo may revive information ministry
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government has finalized a draft presidential regulation to
transfer control of the directorate general of post and
telecommunications from the Ministry of Transportation to the
Office of the State Minister of Information and Communication.
Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi said on Tuesday that the
transfer might prompt the President to upgrade the state
minister's office into a ministry akin to the information
ministry under the Soeharto administration, which had the power
to impose a media ban.
Former president Abdurrahman Wahid dissolved the information
ministry in 1999 and his successor Megawati Soekarnoputri
introduced the state minister of information and communication
office, which did not wield such a power.
"The draft is finished, and will be presented to the President
as soon as possible for approval. We plan to have a Cabinet
meeting sometime next week to discuss the issue," Sudi said.
Upon taking office on Oct. 20, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
promised to bring changes within the first 100 days of his
presidency.
If the information ministry is reinstated, it will have
representative offices across the country.
Sudi would not go into details about the state minister's
authorities as regards the directorate general of post and
telecommunications, pending approval from the President.
Susilo's close aide, Sofyan Djalil, is the State Minister of
Information and Communication.
Earlier, Sofyan said a plan to transfer jurisdiction over the
telecommunications directorate general had been discussed, but
had not been settled.
Darul Siska, a member of House Commission V overseeing
telecommunications, said the commission had not been invited to
discuss the integration of the telecommunications directorate
general under the state minister of information and
communication.
"We have not heard about that," he told The Jakarta Post on
Tuesday.
Darul said the commission would seek the government's
clarification about the transfer and the possible plan to
reinstate the information ministry.
According to the Constitution, the President has a prerogative
to determine their Cabinet structure and to appoint ministers.
New authorities will also be given to the State Minister for
Administrative Reform, a post which is filled by Taufik Effendi,
another confidante of Susilo.
A source at the ministerial office told the Post said on
Tuesday that Taufik would be given the power to appoint
candidates to the board of directors of state-owned enterprises,
a power that currently resides with the state minister of state
enterprises.
"We are aware that it could create an impression that the
President would benefit from state-owned companies, but the plan
exists," said the official who requested anonymity.
Under former president Megawati, the state minister of state
enterprises controlled state banks and firms with combined assets
worth billions of dollars.