Reorganizing State Ministries, Cabinet Proposed to Be Filled with 41 Ministers

APHTN-HAN recommends restructuring the nomenclature of ministries, including increasing the number of ministries to 41.

SUSANA RITA KUMALASANTI

Secretary General of APHTN-HAN Bayu Dwi Anggono

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Limitations on the number of ministries regulated in Law Number 39 of 2008 concerning State Ministries are no longer relevant because a number of government affairs mandated by the 1945 Constitution have not been accommodated. The nomenclature of ministries needs to be reorganized, including increasing the number of ministries from 34 to 41.

The addition of ministries is one of the recommendations resulting from the national working meeting (rakernas) of the Association of Constitutional Law and State Administration Law Teachers (APHTN-HAN) in Makassar, South Sulawesi, last week. The working meeting was attended by regional and district executives of APHTN-HAN from 35 provinces in Indonesia.

APHTN-HAN Secretary General Bayu Dwi Anggono, Sunday (5/5/2024), revealed that seven findings and recommendations resulted from the review of the constitutional presidential cabinet arrangement by the review team. One of the findings is that not all government affairs mentioned in the 1945 Constitution are regulated in the State Ministries Law. The number of existing ministries also cannot accommodate all government affairs mentioned in the 1945 Constitution.

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KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO

President Joko Widodo and Vice President Ma'ruf Amin pose for a photo with ministers in front of the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday (23/10/2019).

The APHTN-HAN also recommends proportional numbers of coordinating ministries, an implementable idea of forming an expert cabinet, and the presence of vice ministers. Other recommendations include the arrangement of institutions within the Presidential Palace environment and the position of the attorney general, which must be filled by a nonpartisan politician.

Regarding the number of ministries, APHTN-HAN emphasized that the 1945 Constitution does not regulate the number of ministries. This means, according to Bayu, the number of ministries is the domain of law makers or is an open legal policy. The current Law on State Ministries limits the number of ministries to only 34.

However, according to APHTN-HAN, the regulation of the number of ministries needs to be reviewed. This is because the current number of ministries does not fully reflect all the affairs of government stipulated in the 1945 Constitution.

APTHTN-HAN proposed two options, one of which is adding several new ministries to 41 ministries.

In addition, the limitation on the number of ministries regulated in the State Ministry Law of 2008 can no longer accommodate the need for flexibility in managing governmental affairs as stated in the constitution. However, strengthening the president's prerogative in forming a presidential cabinet should refer to governmental affairs within the constitution.

Therefore, APTHTN-HAN proposes two options, one of which is to add several new ministries to make it a total of 41 ministries. This addition is important to accommodate governance affairs in the 1945 Constitution that are not yet covered in the State Ministry Law. Some of the ministries that have not been included are the National Food Ministry, the Ministry of Taxation and State Revenue, the Ministry of Border and Outermost Island Management, as well as the Ministry of Culture.

The second option is to maintain the current number of ministries, which is 34. However, the nomenclature of the ministries needs to be changed to accommodate government affairs in the 1945 Constitution that are not yet covered in the current ministries' nomenclature.

KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO (WAK)

President Joko Widodo along with Vice President Ma'ruf Amin entered Istana Merdeka, Jakarta, after taking a photo together with the ministers who will be inaugurated, Wednesday (23/10/2019).

Regarding the coordinating ministry, APHTN-HAN proposed that there should be no more than three coordinating ministries. This relates to the clusters mentioned in the constitution, namely the political, legal, and security cluster; followed by the economic and financial cluster; and lastly the human development and people's welfare cluster.

Regarding the ministerial requirements, APHTN-HAN proposed a change. This is because the requirements regulated in the State Ministry Law are considered to be still very general. The association of constitutional law educators wants the ministerial requirements to be added with "having competence and experience in ministerial duties". Furthermore, APHTN-HAN also recommends the need for the president to pay attention to the balance between the number of ministers from political parties and ministers from non-political party circles.

Several ministries have been proposed to be filled by professionals from non-political party backgrounds. This is especially for ministries that directly involve the needs of the general public such as education, health, public works, agriculture, manpower, marine and fisheries, social affairs, as well as cooperatives and SMEs.

KOMPAS/CYPRIANUS ANTO SAPTOWALYONO

The atmosphere of the inauguration of the Minister and Deputy Minister of the Indonesia Maju Cabinet Remaining Term Period 2019-2024 and Presidential Advisory Council members at the State Palace on Monday (17/7/2023).

Non-political party groups are also expected to fill ministerial positions related to technocratic governance. These include, among others, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Land, State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform, State-Owned Enterprises, National Development Planning, Investment, as well as Energy and Mineral Resources.

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Another Ministry that must also be filled by non-political party personnel is the one that carries out government affairs that have a vertical nature, with bureaucratic structures from the center to the regions. This is important so that the Ministry is not used for certain political activities. These ministries include the Ministry of Finance, Law and Human Rights, Religion, as well as Agrarian and Spatial Planning.