Tinkering With The Ministry Of Social Affairs, Should The Ministers Be Professionals?

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) is looking for a replacement for the inactive Minister of Social Affairs Juliari Peter Batubara, who has been named as a suspect in receiving bribes by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). Recently, the one who was widely heard to have received an offer to sit in this chair was the Mayor of Surabaya, Tri Rismaharini.

This news circulated when the Acting Chairman of the DPP Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) Yusuf Lakaseng claimed to know about the appointment of the Mayor of Surabaya, Tri Rismaharini, by President Jokowi to replace Juliari. This was conveyed by the celebration of the pilkada on the victory of the Candidates for Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Surabaya, Eri Cahyadi and Armuji.

"In Surabaya, the mayor can immediately jump to the minister, without having to become the Governor of East Java first. This shows that Surabaya is a global city," he said some time ago.

Later, Risma brushed off the news. He admitted that he had not heard anything related to this.

"Seng nawari sopo? (Who offered him)," said Risma in Surabaya.

Risma left this matter to the Chairperson of the PDI-P, Megawati Sukarnoputri. Moreover, he is currently still in the Pilkada atmosphere.

"Not yet (there is communication, red). This is still the regional election, so the pilkada is not over yet," he said.

Juliari was named a suspect on December 6. The journey of this case was initiated through a hand arrest (OTT) operation which started with public information on Friday, December 4.

KPK chairman Firli Bahuri said the information stated that a number of state administrators had allegedly received money from Ardian I. M (AIM) and Hary Sidabuke (HS) as a private party to two Commitment Making Officials (PPK), namely Matheus Joko Santoso ( MJS), Adi Wahyono (AW), and Minister of Social Affairs Juliari Batubara who were given through their confidants including a Secretary of the Ministry of Social Affairs, namely Shelvy N.

Furthermore, after silent operations were carried out in several locations in Jakarta on Saturday, December 5, the KPK named five suspects in this case, including Juliari.

The former Deputy for Corruption Eradication of the KPK explained that Juliari as Minister of Social Affairs allegedly appointed MJS and AW as Commitment Making Officials who then directly appointed partners who would fill the social assistance procurement project at the Ministry of Social Affairs worth Rp.5.9 trillion with a total of 272 contracts and carried out in two periods.

In the first period, said Firli, Juliari allegedly received a fee of IDR 8.2 billion through AW from a total of IDR 12 billion which came from an agreement to pay IDR 10,000 by project partners to the Ministry of Social Affairs. This gift was managed by his confidants named Eko and Shelvy to pay for Minister Juliari's personal needs.

Next, in the second period of implementing the social assistance package, Juliari again received Rp.8.8 billion from the fee money collected from October to December. Just like the previous period, these billions of money will be used to meet their needs.

During the presidency of President Joko Widodo, there were two Social Ministers who were arrested by the anti-corruption commission, namely Idrus Marham who served as Secretary General of the Golkar Party and Juliari Peter Batubara who held the position of Deputy Treasurer of the PDI-P. Both were appointed by the KPK as recipients of bribes.

Seeing this condition, Executive Director of the Indonesia Political Opinion (IPO) Dedi Kurnia Syah assessed that President Jokowi might start considering professionals to take up the post of Minister of Social Affairs. This was because he considered the professionals not to intervene easily.

"Professionals can avoid the pressure of interest, in contrast to political party cadres who of course have to consider the direction of political parties in the ministry's work," Dedi said when contacted by VOI, Wednesday, December 16.

According to him, this ministerial position should also be kept away from PDI-P cadres. Given, currently there is a legal process that is running and this is to prevent abuse of power.

He further assessed that the Ministry of Social Affairs, which is directly dealing with the community, actually does not only need political elites. Dedi said those who sit in these seats should have two main assets, namely proficient in implementing and supervising work and having policy capacity.

"The Ministry of Social Affairs as a post that directly faces the community also needs to be occupied by figures with superior integrity and empathic character, not only political figures. Moreover, the Minister of Social Affairs for two periods at close range was proven to be corrupt," he said.

The circulation of Risma's name being appointed as Minister of Social Affairs replacing Juliari was then responded to by the Chairperson of the PDIP DPP Ahmad Basarah. He admitted that he did not know about this appointment.

However, he confirmed that whoever the name proposed by the party bearing the bull symbol as minister would be determined by PDIP Chairman Megawati Soekarnoputri.

"The matter regarding which PDIP cadres will be assigned and proposed to the president to become Minister of the Advanced Indonesia Cabinet is the authority and prerogative of Bu Mega as the General Chair of the PDI-P," Basarah said as quoted from his written statement.

Meanwhile, the final decision maker is President Jokowi with his prerogatives.

"And regarding the decision to appoint a minister, it is President Jokowi's prerogative," the Vice Chairman of the MPR RI added.