Yunus: Information ministry may become obsolete
Yunus: Information ministry may become obsolete
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Information Muhammad Yunus,
acknowledging the government in the past spent too much money on
his ministry which often only functioned to restrict information,
said yesterday he could envision the department being scrapped
altogether.
In precedent-setting candor for an information minister, Yunus
said the day might come when a government bureau took over the
tasks of the ministry.
Yet this would be dependent on the state-funded TVRI
television station and RRI radio network becoming financially
independent and the mass media being thoroughly maintained
through laws which allow for public scrutiny.
"By then, I think the ministry would need to be made smaller,"
he said. "It could be in two, three or five years' time from now
before it can be materialized."
Yunus, an active army lieutenant general who was formerly
known as Yunus Yosfiah, was speaking during a hearing with the
House of Representatives' Commission I for information affairs
here.
"By then, the government apparatus would have to minimize
their intervention into people's affairs... They should only let
laws control people's affairs."
His frank discussion of the possible dissolution of the
ministry is unprecedented for a serving minister.
Yunus even went so far as to say that closing the ministry
could save hundreds of billions of rupiah from the state budget
allocated to fund the 51,000-personnel strong ministry.
He argued savings from such efficiency measures could be put
to good use, such as in improving the welfare of civil servants.
"Rich countries" like Japan and the United States do not have
information ministries, he said.
"There are only about 18 or 20 ministries in Japan... America
doesn't have an information ministry either, only the USIS, the
United States Information Service.
"Meanwhile, we are a poor country. But because we organize our
bureaucratic structure inappropriately, we hamper our own pace of
development."
He also touched on the ministry's role in curbing dispersal of
information.
"We feel that the state has spent too much money for the
operational and salary costs of civil servants (within the
ministry of information), while on the other hand it has in
reality so far only restricted the flow of information to
society."
Yunus revealed a case of delinquency in duties from the
ministry, which he took over only a month ago.
He said the ministry had a backlog of about 90 press
publication applications -- "the number is astonishing" -- dating
back six or seven years.
Putting the proposals on hold was tantamount to hindering the
rights of people from obtaining more information which they
needed to help nurture their own creativity, he said.
He believed people with a broad base of knowledge could help
accelerate the pace of the national development.
"Isn't it ironic that we should pay people (civil servants) to
hinder the development?"
Yunus claimed he was able to approve and sign 20 new press
publication permits "in just two weeks time".
He has impressed some in media circles by revoking a
controversial 1984 ministerial regulation which allowed the
government to arbitrarily annual press publication permits.
His much-lauded policy was followed by the issuance of a new
ministerial decree which simplifies procedures to obtain
publication permits. (aan)