JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The 2019 election has affected the Cabinet. Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister Asman Abnur has submitted his resignation to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. His move follows the National Mandate Party’s switch to the Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno camp in the 2019 election.
According to information Kompas received as of Tuesday (14/8/2018) night, National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. Syafruddin will be inaugurated on Wednesday to fill the post left vacant by Asman. Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Idham Azis will be inaugurated as National Police deputy chief.
At the same time, six other ministers in the Cabinet will also run as legislative candidates. This will make them very busy in the 2019 election, campaigning for themselves, their parties and Joko Widodo-Ma’ruf Amin. Several of them will likely join the Jokowi-Ma’ruf national campaign team.
Those six ministers do not have to resign but need a long break during the campaign. This raises question about their focus to carry out state duties.
Currently, the focus is needed considering many challenges. Yesterday, the rupiah weakened and closed at Rp 14,600 per US dollar. The Jakarta Composite Index closed at below 5,800.
At the same time, some problems such as the handling of quake victims in West Nusa Tenggara cannot be ignored.
Aside from the ministers, campaigning will also be carried out by most members of the House of Representatives and Regional Representatives Council. Speakers of the People’s Consultative Assembly and the House and DPD will also run as legislative candidates.
Regarding this matter, the General Elections Commission (KPU) has warned state institutions, including ministers who take a break to campaign, to maintain the continuity of state administrative affairs.
This follows Article 60 of KPU Regulation No. 23/2018 on Election Campaigns, which stipulates that during a campaign period, the president and vice president, state institutions and regional institutions must pay attention to the continuity of the state and regional administration.
KPU member Wahyu Setiawan said ministers running as legislative candidates could take a one-day break in a week to campaign. Meanwhile, on holidays, they do not need to take an off. Yet, he warns that during campaigns, they are not allowed to use state facilities.
University of Indonesia political study center executive director Aditya Perdana said ministers, who run as legislative candidates must also be watched so that they do not abuse their position during the campaign.
Permitted
Last night, Asman Abnur said the President has allowed him to resign from the cabinet.
Asman said he decided to resign because his position as a PAN cadre would be burdensome to the President. It is because PAN is not part of the coalition supporting Jokowi as the presidential candidate in the 2019 election.
“The presence of Pak Asman in the government has so far been fine. We thank him. We start and end it well,” Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said. Regarding other PAN cadre Soetrisno Bachir as the chairman of Indonesian National Industry and Economic Committee, Pramono said, it is not a problem.
Replacement
National Awakening Party (PKB) secretary-general Abdul Kadir Karding said his party needs the ministers to run as legislative candidates to fill in the post in several constituencies. “They are party cadres so we push them to help grow the political party and run from the regions where PKB have no representations at the House,” he said.
NasDem Party secretary-general Johnny G. Plate said his party bans its cadres that become ministers from running as legislative candidates so that they focus on working as ministers. However, he did not dismiss the possibility that some ministers are asked to help Jokowi-Ma’ruf campaign.
“They will not be positioned in strategic posts. For example, Vice President Jusuf Kalla is in the advisory team. He does not have to attend all meetings. He needs only to give advice,” he said.
United Development Party secretary-general Arsul Sani said that will not disrupt the government’s performance because the ministers involved in the campaign team are not those, who have to deal with Jokowi-Kalla programs.
Several ministers who run as legislative candidates said they can arrange their schedule well.
“This is just a management issue. Before becoming a minister, I handled some companies and they all performed well,” said Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Minister Eko Putro Sandjojo.
Manpower Minister M Hanif Dhakiri said his decision to run as legislative candidate is also for the sake of Jokowi administration’s interest. “If PKB grows bigger, the coalition will also be stronger,” he added.
House Speaker Bambang Soesatyo said he would ensure the performance of the House would not be disrupted even though the politicians would be divided between legislative and presidential campaigns. “We will arrange schedule for the House leaders,” he said.
During the 2019 election, Bambang will compete with fellow politicians Utut Adianto and Taufik Kurniawan in the Central Java VII constituency, which includes Purbalingga, Banjarnegara and Kebumen.
(AGE/APA/LAS/NAD/MED/GAL/NTA/BOW/SAN)
