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.