The formation of the Cabinet for 2019-2024 is being finalized. Several things need to be taken into consideration in relation to the opportunities and challenges that will be faced.
By
·3 minutes read
The formation of the Cabinet for 2019-2024 is being finalized. Several things need to be taken into consideration in relation to the opportunities and challenges that will be faced.
The formation of the Cabinet is the authority of the president-elect and describes the targets to be achieved by the president during his term.
The president-elect and vice president-elect for the 2019-2024 period, Joko Widodo and Ma\'ruf Amin, have stated the vision and mission of their government: continuing infrastructure development, improving human resources, inviting investment for job creation, reforming the bureaucracy so that it can work nimbly to serve the needs of the community, as well as using the state budget and income appropriately to improve people\'s welfare.
The vision and mission were actually already included in Nawacita, the nine-point development program, when Jokowi campaigned to become president in 2014. The vision and mission of Jokowi\'s second term government thus continued the achievements and accomplished what had not been achieved in the first period.
In the last Cabinet meeting last week, the administration\'s evaluation mentioned a number of achievements. Among other things, inflation was maintained at 3-4 percent each year, the poverty rate fell below 10 percent, the human development index rose to a high category, stunting was reduced and infrastructure development took place, such as with the trans-Java toll roads and MRT in Jakarta.
Nevertheless, not all government work targets were achieved, including economic growth of 5 percent from the 7 percent target. The ratio of taxpayers has also been stagnant at 11-12 percent, the Gini index, which illustrates welfare distribution, remains at 0.382 from the target of 0.36. What is alarming is the fact that corruption is still rampant amid intensive efforts to stop it.
In the future, we face a situation that is not easy. Globally, a recession overshadows developed countries, in addition to the possibility of the continuation of the US-China trade war. Domestically, we face social dissatisfaction, as reflected in the 2018 State Vulnerability Index.
Of course, we expect members of the next Cabinet to be competent in their fields and show commitment to working seriously until the end of their term.
The ministers are not only presidential assistants, they are also statesmen. Therefore, the ministers must prioritize the interests of their country, relinquish the interests of groups and/or political parties, let alone personal interests.
The challenges in the future are very great and at the same time we must be ready to seize opportunities. We do not have the luxury of choosing ministers solely because of the interests of political parties. The leadership of political parties should also realize that only figures with integrity and commitment are worthy to sit in the Cabinet.