Jakarta Globe,
Novy Lumanauw & Markus Sihaloho, Aug 04, 2014
Jakarta. President-Elect Joko Widodo on Monday established a transition team that would smooth the transfer of power in government from the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who steps down from office in October.
Jakarta. President-Elect Joko Widodo on Monday established a transition team that would smooth the transfer of power in government from the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who steps down from office in October.
“We [open]
this office because we have to prepare [for everything], even though I said
earlier that we had to respect the process at the Constitutional Court,” Joko
was quoted as saying by state-run Antara news agency.
Joko’s
preparation comes even as rival candidate Prabowo Subianto on July 25 filed a
case with the Constitutional Court. Prabowo challenged the official result of
the General Elections Commission (KPU) that showed him with 46.85 percent of
the vote from the July 9 election, compared to 53.15 percent for Joko. The
court will make a final decision on Aug. 22.
Joko said
the office — which will be located at Jalan Situbondo, Menteng in Central
Jakarta — will host a team of experts and officials to help him prepare the
upcoming state budget as well as establish communication with the current
administration.
“The team
will elaborate the president’s and the vice president’s vision and mission into
policies, plans and programs,” Joko said.
The
transition team will be led by former Industry and Trade Minister Rini M.S.
Soewandi. She will be assisted by four deputies: international relations and
security analyst Andi Widjajanto, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDI-P) politician Hasto Kristianto, education expert Anies Baswedan and
National Democratic Party (Nasdem) politician Akbar Faisal.
The
five-member team, in turn, will be assisted by some experts who will be acting
as advisors.
Hasto said
that they were already hard at work discussing policies and programs to help
fulfill Joko’s key campaign promises. The team has also assigned staff into
dedicated working committees on agriculture, maritime, public housing, economy,
education, health and public transportation.
“There are
strategic things [that are to be discussed] like the 2015 budget plan … as well
as the architecture of [Joko's] cabinet,” Hasto said.
The PDI-P
politician, however, stressed that the office will not deliberate on who will
be included in Joko’s upcoming cabinet, saying that filling ministerial and
strategic posts will be left entirely to Joko.
Although he
lauded Joko’s intention for a smooth transition, Yudhoyono was quick to
criticize the move as premature, pointing to Prabowo’s challenge of the
election result.
“Please be
patient! Wait until the Constitutional Court officially decides the president
and vice president-elect of the 2014 presidential election. Afterward, I will
be proactive in communicate with the president-elect,” Yudhoyono said at the
State Palace on Monday.
Still,
Yudhoyono — whose second five-year term ends on Oct. 20 — said he appreciated
Joko’s decision to establish a transition team and claimed it as his own idea.
“The
transition idea, power handover from the old to the new president, from the old
to the new government, is one of my ideas that I had announced some months ago.
That’s why it’s good,” the president said. Yudhoyono went on to say that there
had been no good transition process when he succeeded Megawati Soekarnoputri as
president in 2004.
“We’ll
change that political tradition so that it will be good for the upcoming
government, the next president and the Indonesian people,” Yudhoyono said.
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