People's
Power — In an unprecedented move, Joko Widodo has asked Indonesians to help him
put together a new government
 |
Joko Widodo, center, and Jusuf Kalla, second from left, with PDI-P head Megawati
Sukarnoputri, second from right, and Puan Maharani on July 22, 2014.
(Reuters Photo/Darren Whiteside) |
Jakarta.
President-elect Joko Widodo has again come up with an innovative idea; one that
is unheard of in the history of Indonesian politics. Indonesia’s future leader
is asking the public to add its two cents in filling out his cabinet, and in
the process, revealing the potential nominees.
Jokowi
Center, a team of volunteers helping Joko gather suggestions and examine
candidates for his cabinet lineup, launched a poll on its website
jokowicenter.com on Thursday, allowing Indonesians nationwide to cast their
votes for names provided by the site, or nominate their own favorites.
More than
18,000 online participants raced to the site as of Thursday evening, causing it
to crash less than 24 hours after its official launch.
The
Center’s Facebook page and Twitter account — @Jokowi_Ina — also provided a link
to a Google document inviting citizens to fill out a similar questionnaire.
A total of
102 names have been nominated for 34 ministerial posts, with each position
receiving three candidates. If respondents remain unsatisfied with the
suggestions, they may nominate their own choice with the “other” option.
“I’m only
asking for input [to create] the cabinet,” Joko commented about the online poll
on Thursday. “[The suggestions] will be processed by a team, using a set of
criteria. Then, [the results] will be sent to coalition members, before being
sent back to the [Jokowi Center] team.
“The final
decision will be on me.”
The Jakarta
governor has repeatedly stated he was against the practice of transactional
politics and will not trade political support for a seat in his government.
The
unprecedented move could account for the relatively small size of his coalition
— compared to opponent Prabowo Subianto’s massive campaign machine — which will
control a mere 37 percent of legislative seats when the new set of lawmakers go
into session on Oct. 1.
Compare
that with the rival bloc of former Army general Prabowo, which will control 73
percent of the House seats if the coalition does not fall apart — as many
observers have predicted.
Joko has
also vehemently rejected allegations claiming he will merely act as a “puppet
president” to Megawati Soekarnoputri, the chairwoman of his political vehicle,
the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
“I truly
respect Megawati as my senior. But surely good governance should come from
making the right decisions and what is best for our nation,” Joko said in an
interview a day before the General Elections Commission (KPU) declared him and
running mate Jusuf Kalla the winners of the July 9 presidential race on
Tuesday.
Still, it’s
impossible not to notice that at least 30 names on Jokowi Center’s list of
cabinet nominees are party members — and most of those are from the PDI-P.
Take for
example Puan Maharani, Megawati’s daughter, who is tipped as an heir apparent
to the PDI-P throne. The 40-year-old is a candidate for the position of women’s
empowerment minister.
Meanwhile,
senior PDI-P politicians Maruarar Sirait and Pramono Anung are both nominated
for state secretary. Similarly, Hendrawan Supratikno has been suggested for the
post of finance minister and Arif Budimanta for energy minister.
Politicians
from other parties within the PDI-P-led coalition, including National Awakening
Party (PKB) chairman Muhaimin Iskandar, National Democrat Party (Nasdem) deputy
chairman Ferry Mursyidan Baldan and Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI)
chairman Sutiyoso, are also on the list. They are — in respective order —
nominated for the chief welfare minister, the communication minister and the
coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs.
Interestingly,
a number of figures from parties in the rival camp have also been nominated,
including popular Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil of Prabowo’s Great Indonesia
Movement (Gerindra) Party and Lukman Hakim Saifudin of the United Development
Party (PPP). They are candidates for the public housing minister and religious
affairs minister, respectively.
More
notable additions to the list include movie directors Garin Nugroho and Mira
Lesmana as the tourism and creative industry minister.
The
nomination of noted composer Addie M. S. and Paramadina University rector Anies
Baswedan as the youth and sports minister, meanwhile, have managed to raised
eyebrows — with neither known to have any experience in the area. Anies has in
fact been widely expected as Indonesia’s next education minister, but he’s
strangely not among the Jokowi Center nominees for the job.
Is the
right man in the right place?
Bantarto
Bandoro, a political, defense and international relations expert from the
Indonesia Defense University (Unhan), expressed his opinion on several
candidates on Friday.
According
to Bantarto, Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. Moeldoko and former Army
chief of staff Gen. Budiman were both capable of holding the chief political
and security minister position, but noted that Budiman’s recent dismissal — the
reason of which remains unclear — would
not set a positive precedence for Joko’s future cabinet.
“Would Joko
promote Budiman though he was ‘dismissed’ from the Army?” Bantarto questioned.
“The coordinating
minister for political, legal and security affairs is a managerial position; it
doesn’t require technical skills. Moeldoko will be the best man for the job.
He’s familiar with latest security issues, including those that will remain
[Indonesia’s concerns] over the next five years,” Bantarto said.
Former
chief of the Jakarta military command Sutiyoso, meanwhile, has been absent from
Indonesia’s political arena since the end of his term as Jakarta’s governor in
2007, which means he may face difficulties readjusting to another government
post, Bantaro added.
For defense
minister, he pointed to one of his former students at the University of
Indonesia (UI), Andi Widjajanto — who is now a lecturer at the university— as
the best man for the job. Andi, along with senior PDI-P lawmaker T. B.
Hasanuddin and former Army chief of staff Ryamizard Ryacudu, are three nominees
for the job.
It helps
that Andi is a core member of Joko’s campaign team and has been directly
involved in outlining the ticket’s defense and foreign policy platform.
“Andi has
an advantage over the other two [candidates]. His academic, scientific-based
approaches will introduce logics in Indonesia’s defense policies and help them
develop,” Bantarto said. “He’s young, but has good expertise.”
Meanwhile,
Hasanuddin, a member the House’s defense commission, has admittedly been
following every development of Indonesia’s defense sector and has provided the
government with ample criticism on the matter.
“But his
arguments often lack theoretical, scientific and practical grounds and
therefore offer no real solutions to the matter at hand,” Bantarto commented.
Finally, he
pointed out that the appointment of Ryamizard — a known close aide to Megawati
— would contradict Indonesia’s stance on appointing a civilian for the defense
minister position. The policy was introduced at the start of the post-Suharto
reformation era and was meant to curb military involvement and dominance in the
government.
As for the
role of foreign minister, Bantarto champions Indonesia’s current international
public relations man Marty Natalegawa, as he is expected to continue the
country’s ongoing diplomatic missions — which most of Indonesia’s foreign
observers say are cruising in the right direction.
“Additionally,
there would be almost zero resistance against him within the diplomatic ranks.
The same may not be said for public figures who have currently no connections
to the foreign ministry, such as UI lecturer Makmur Keliat or Center for
Strategic and International Studies [CSIS] executive director Rizal Sukma,”
Bantarto said. “Rizal has some great, sharp foreign policy concepts, but he
would meet resistance in the diplomatic ranks as he’s never been part of them.”
The
economic team
Eric
Alexander Sugandi, an economist at Standard Chartered, gave his comments on the
appointment of Indonesia’s future economic ministers.
However,
Eric refused to take sides and name his favorite choice for chief of
Indonesia’s economy, the nominees for which include incumbent minister Chairul
Tanjung, who has only held the title for several months, gaining the position
after stepping in for current Prabowo running mate Hatta Rajasa; State
Enterprise Minister Dahlan Iskan; and former trade minister Gita Wirjawan.
“Ideally,
the coordinating minister for the economy position should go to a senior
minister, experienced enough to be able to smoothly coordinate with other
economic ministers. And ideally, the person must also be able to work with
regional administrations,” Eric said.
For the
post of finance minister, Eric favors former minister Agus Martowardojo — who
held the role from 2010 to 2013 — but highly doubts that Agus would want to
leave his current position as Bank Indonesia governor.
“Raden
Pardede gained ample experience with the KSSK, the [now-defunct] Financial
System Stability Committee,” Eric said. “But other names from the finance
ministry’s inner circle should be considered as well.”
These would
include deputy finance minister Bambang Brodjonegoro, former deputy finance
minister Mahendra Siregar — who is now chief of the Investment Coordinating
Board, or BKPM — and tax director general Fuad Rahmany.
Eric added
that Mari Elka Pangestu, trade minister from 2004 to 2011 and current nominee,
would still be fit for the job, citing her vast experience in the sector.
“Basically,
aside from having specific skills in their specific areas, ministers for the
economy should also possess macroeconomic knowledge, experience in policy
making and the ability to build relations with other state institutions,
including the House of Representatives, Bank Indonesia and the OJK [Financial
Services Authority].
“Candidates
should also be in favor of administrative reform,” Eric added.
Corruption
free?
Meanwhile,
the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) offered its input by highlighting the
track records of names added to Jokowi Center’s online list, some of which have
already raised a red flag within the antigraft organization.
ICW
coordinator Ade Irawan refused to go into detail, but conceded that Rokhmin
Dahuri, the maritime and fisheries minister under Megawati’s 2001-04
presidency, had once been convicted of corruption and abusing his power.
Rokhmin was
sentenced to a seven-year prison term in 2007 for illegally collecting up to Rp
11.5 billion ($1 million) from various government programs. His sentence was
cut short due to good behavior.
Raden may
also prove to be a problematic candidate due to KSSK’s involvement in the Bank
Century bailout scandal, which is currently being tried at the Jakarta
Anti-Corruption Court. However, the former KSSK secretary has only testified as
a witness in the case.
“The
candidates’ list should be free from people implicated or suspected in
corruption cases and potential conflicts of interest,” Ade said. “Jokowi-JK
should clearly outline the criteria required for each candidate… so the public
would not make their choice simply based on popularity.”
Ade
conceded Joko’s attempts to draw public participation in selecting cabinet
members “deserves appreciation.”
“It is
important that people are involved in choosing the officials who will
ultimately serve them,” Ade said. “This strategy would also hopefully prevent
any transactional, horse-trading politics from happening.”
The ICW is
currently drawing up its own list of pros and cons on Jokowi Center’s existing
list of candidates.
That
report, added Ade, will be released in August.
The ICW
coordinator added that the organization supported the idea of cutting down on
bureaucracy by closing several ministries that are deemed ineffective, though
he declined to name them.
Additional
reporting by SP/Deti Mega P.
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“… Government
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Democracy itself will change and you're going to see it soon. The hold-outs, the few countries I have mentioned in the past, are doomed unless they recalibrate. They're doomed to be the same as they have been and won't be able to exist as they are now with everyone changing around them.
I mentioned North Korea in the past. Give it time. Right now, the young man is under the control of his father's advisors. But when they're gone, you will see something different, should he survive. Don't judge him yet, for he is being controlled.
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