Analyctical Exposition (FINAL EXAM)
Genre-based Writing
Vice Ministers: Political Conspiracy?
Today’s cabinet, the Second United Indonesia Cabinet
(Indonesian: Kabinet Indonesia Bersatu
Jilid II) conducted by President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono, is considered as the cabinet
which is full of controversy. Huge corruption issues to many other more cases
color the SBY’s leadership. They involve those from the representative
functionary who come from coalition partners. It becomes the talk of the town that
the issues are getting severer. One of the common issues is about the existence
of the vice ministers, its position in the cabinet and also its legitimacy.
After the reshuffle, the President occupies more officers to be in charge of the
cabinet. There are so far eighteen officers who occupy the vice minister
occupation. Nonetheless, it later becomes debatable. Some say it is
contradicted with the Indonesia’s basic ordinance (Undang-undang Dasar 1945/UUD
1945). Moreover, after the National
Movement against Corruption (GN-PK) reported it to the Constitutional Court,
this issue is getting hotter. This accusation is based on the section 17 of the
UUD 1945. The section does not
mention any of the occupations. Therefore, it is considered to be improper and
it seemingly opposes against the regulation that has been held for years. They reckon
that the section 10 of the ordinance (Undang-undang/UU)
No. 39/2008 about Ministerial Regulation contradicts the section 17 of the UUD 1945.
The existence of vice minister occupations in
the cabinet causes public suspicion. Many public opinions linking to this issue
are rising. They suspect that the vice minister occupation will bear any
political interests among government officers, especially those who are in
charge of being officers of the ministry. Although it is SBY’s exclusive right
since he is a president, it still has to be decided cautiously. Reviewing
public opinions and any laws dealing with it will make it less of false later.
In addition, public may appraise that the vice minister existence will award
fallout towards the government itself and thus it should be reexamined. It is
so for some reasons:
Firstly, the existence of vice ministers is
considered as a waste of the state’s finance. It is because the facility and the salary that
the vice ministers earn are sourced from the General Revenue and Expenditure
Budget (APBN). As it is said before, there is no section in the UUD in which regulates this occupation.
The section 17 of the UUD only
provides regulation about minister occupation. None of it explains the vice
minister occupation. Besides, according to the Constitutional Court’s
explanation saying that the section 10 of the ordinance (UU) about the Ministerial Regulation contradicts the section 9
verse (1) of the same ordinance. Here is the structure of the Ministry that is
arranged by section 9 verse (1): the chief/minister; minister assistant/general
secretariat; fundamental manager/general directorate; controller/general
inspectorate; other supporting staff/central department; manager of regional
task/delegation for foreign area, and all those occupations are set by the
ordinance. In short, the vice minister’s task actually is accommodated by put
“an officer called general secretary. Thus, regarding to that facts, it is
possible to omit the occupation of the vice minister. On the other hand, if the
president considers that it is necessary for the government to have staffs that
have special expertise, he should only appoint those who are really experts. So
that the work performance will be effective and efficient, it means that the
APBN will be saved.
It also becomes debatable about who should and
will be in charge of occupying the vice minister occupation. According to Constitutional
Court (MK) (cited from indonesiamedia.com), vice minister occupation is a
career occupation coming from civil servant occupation. In case, the
way of the appointment is not clearly explained whether it is structural occupation
or functional occupation. As it is known that career occupation has two
categories, they are functional and structural occupation. The problem is, if
the vice minister occupation is a structural occupation then those who are in
charge of it must be ones who also occupy the Echelon 1 A which means that it
will be appropriate with the employee regulation. Moreover, a vice minister is
under the general secretariat’s submission. (
Otherwise, if it is considered as functional
occupation then it will be awkward. It is because as it is known that
functional occupation only specializes on a certain field of work.
MK said that it does not make any sense if the
vice minister occupation is a functional occupation since it has many fields of
submissions and it needs various expertise as well. Furthermore, it should
be codified in the ordinance. It also has to classify the qualification into a
certain occupation.
The more of regarding the vice ministers’
previous job that they are basically from College officers, the more it is
obvious that there is an error relating to this regulation. The question is that
if the vice minister occupation is a functional occupation so is it possible for
a civil servant to have two different functional occupations at the same time
according to the regulation?
That is why the occupation is still considered
as political appointee which is occupied by a career officer.
Second, the vice minister existence is assumed
to accommodate political interests. It can be seen that the president has
changed the regulation of forming the Ministry twice. It seems to be forced for
suiting the condition. Public assume that the vice ministers are not capable
for the occupations they have. They just pretend as they could do the
responsibility.
In addition, changing the regulation only
screws up the ministerial system itself which is already set by the ordinance;
it only shows off government’s lack in making a decision. They seemingly put
the vice minister occupation in sale. It seems freely for anyone to take a
chance with it. Again, it is assumed as the president’s way to accommodate the
political interests among representatives from the coalition partners. It is
commonly known that the ministers recognizably are dominated by those from
coalition partners. ( in the other hand, )the vice minister occupation itself is
occupied by an expert. Public see it as the government’s image improvement. The
vice ministers are used to help government improving its image.
Thirdly, the vice minister occupation will
cause conflicting interests towards the minister. Either the ministers or the vice
ministers have the same authority and they are also appointed by the president.
It may breed bad impacts to the public services.
The controversy itself is actually more about
how and who is really qualified to occupy the vice minister occupation, not
even about the legitimacy. It is explained in section 10 UU No. 39/2008 clarifying a vice minister is a career officer.
This term that later becomes the controversy, because nowadays if it is about
career officer then it does not exist any longer in the cabinet structure. It
thus makes uncertainty towards the regulation and it is again contrary to the
section 17 of the UUD 1945.
In short, the content of the section 10 causes
such chaotic implementation or even legality. It will be better if the vice
minister occupation is adjusted with the president’s prerogative. That is why
the President Decision which is about the appointment of each vice minister has
to be upgraded to a new one that is appropriate to the basic ordinance. Thus,
there will be no contradiction among regulation.
This controversial issue is given much
attention by public. So many reasons relate to this case, and mostly bear some
questions towards it. Public needs clearance and this is the government’s
obligation to provide explanation. It is yes, the president has prerogative,
but considering those reasons above we can say that it is the president’s
obligation to clear all these chaos and it is his obligation to reexamine the
vice ministers’ existence in improving the government’s system.
1 comments
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