Belva Should Be An Example For Other Presidential Special Staff

JAKARTA - The CEO of Ruangguru who was elected and appointed as a special staff for the millennial of President Joko Widodo, Adamas Belva Devara, announced his resignation. He resigned after many polemics in the community about Ruangguru being a partner of the Pre-Work Card.

Even though he had a polemic, the public then appreciated Belva's resignation. In fact, he is expected to be an example for other special staff who are not able to work optimally.

Through his personal Instagram account, @belvadevara, he delivered an open letter to the public regarding his decision to resign from the staff of President Jokowi. This official letter of resignation has been submitted to Jokowi since 17 April and has been received by the Palace.

He explained that his decision to resign from Jokowi's staff position was to avoid public perceptions of Ruangguru's involvement as a training partner in the pre-employment card program. Moreover, lately the public has often linked this because Belva is the CEO of Ruangguru who also serves as the president's staff member.

In his upload, Belva also explained that the process of selecting Ruangguru as a Pre-Work Card partner had gone according to the existing process. "As explained by the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy and Implementing Management of the Pre-Employment Card (PMO), the verification process for all Pre-Employment Card partners has been running according to applicable regulations, and there is no involvement that creates a conflict of interest," he said.

"I took this tough decision because I didn't want to make a polemic about the assumptions or varying public perceptions about my position as the President's Special Staff to be prolonged," added the man who graduated from three universities in the United States, namely the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and Harvard University. that.

Political observer from Paramadina University Hendri Satrio assessed that Belva's resignation should serve as an example for millennial special staff who are unable to work in the government.

"In fact, Belva can be an example for other millennial staff if they are not able to, it is better to just resign," said Hendri to VOI on Wednesday, April 22.

However, Hendro has a question for Belva about his decision to resign from this presidential staff position. "The big question is, why doesn't Belva choose to resign as CEO of Ruangguru?" he said.

Even with the various polemics that exist, Hendri believes that the position of this special millennial staff is a breakthrough because it provides space for young people even though it is a bit risky. Because, if this millennial staff fails, it is not impossible that this position will be removed.

Learning about this incident, Hendri said, Jokowi should be able to rearrange their duties which were originally to provide fresh input typical of young people.

Meanwhile, Hendri also advised this staff not to be effeminate appearing in front of the media.

"This is a lot of banci staffs appearing too. That means if you are staffs, never mind, just trust the spokesperson. They don't have to talk, just give input to Pak Jokowi," he said.

Researcher at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) Bhima Yudhistira, who once invited Belva to debate the Pre-employment Card program, also gave his appreciation regarding the resignation. According to him, the resignation is a form of Belva's responsibility to be more professional in running his business.

"Belva has shown that Millennials must have integrity and be able to avoid conflicts of interest that arise when they are in government positions," Bhima said in a written statement.

It's just that, resigning from his position does not mean the polemic regarding the Pre-Employment Card and Ruangguru is over. According to him, there should be a further investigation regarding Ruangguru's choice as a partner of the Pre-Work Card, considering that Ruangguru's Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as one of the Pre-Work Card partners appeared when the government had not issued a Technical Regulation.

Moreover, the card, which is one of the social safety net programs in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, is considered not the answer to the economic hardships for workers affected. "The pre-employment card does not answer the crisis problem faced. That the victims of layoffs need more assistance in the form of cash transfers / BLT compared to online training," he said.

So to avoid waste, the government should stop the budget for the Pre-Work Card and divert the budget directly to the public so that it has a direct impact on people's purchasing power amid the outbreak of COVID-19.

Or if you still want to provide training to the community, said Bhima, the government should provide internet subsidies for three to five months so that all people can access similar training content on YouTube and other platforms.

Bhima also hopes that Belva's resignation can be an example for other millennial staff who until now are still concurrently serving as company officials. The goal is that there is no conflict of interest considering that their career is still long and there are millions of other millennial eyes in Indonesia who are ready to monitor all the movements of these staff.

"I hope that other millennial special staff who have a conflict of interest between business and public positions will follow in Belva's footsteps, namely choosing one of them to remain as staff or professionally continue their startup business," he said.

In November 2018, President Jokowi appointed seven young people, namely: Putri Indahsari Tanjung, Adamas Belva Syah Devara, Andi Taufan Garuda, Gracia Billy Mambrasar, Ayu Kartika Dewi, Angkie Yudistia, and Aminuddin Maruf who are on average 30 years old.

Jokowi said that the millennial staff would be tasked with providing breakthroughs and innovations in managing the country and becoming partners for discussions. As special millennial staff, these seven people receive a salary of IDR 51 million in accordance with Presidential Regulation Number 144 of 2015.