Aji Mumpung Multiples Deputy Minister Positions With SOE Commissioners
JAKARTA The government is considered to have bad political will because it still places a number of deputy ministers in the chair of commissioners even though there is a ban from the Constitutional Court (MK).
The Constitutional Court emphasized that the Deputy Minister should not hold concurrent positions, including commissioners or directors of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN), administrators of private companies, or leaders of organizations financed by the State Budget (APBN) or the Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBD). This is stated in the decision of case Number 128/PUU-XXII/2025 which was read by the Constitutional Court on August 28.
However, just two weeks after the verdict was read, a number of deputy ministers were again placed in the ranks of BUMN commissioners. At the Telkom Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders (EGMS) on September 16, three deputy ministers were officially appointed as commissioners.
They are Deputy Minister of Communication and Digital Angga Raka Prabowo who was appointed as President Commissioner of Telkom, Deputy Minister of Agrarian and Spatial Planning/Deputy Head of BPN Ossy Dermawan and Deputy Minister of Immigration and Correction Silmy Karim who were each appointed as commissioners.
The government, according to observers, can be considered to have stratified the constitution because it did not immediately implement the Constitutional Court's decision.
From various sources, currently as many as 31 deputy ministers have other positions in BUMN. Shortly after the appointment of three deputy ministers as commissioners at Telkom, Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi emphasized that this did not violate the Constitutional Court's decision.
He argued that there was a transitional time of two years so that the government could gradually reorganize the structure of SOE management. What Prasetyo said was not wrong. In the decision, the Constitutional Court did give the government a maximum of two years to adjust the structure.
However, in the eyes of observers, the government is considered aji while taking advantage of two years. Instead of making improvements, the government deliberately puts the deputy minister until the time given by the Constitutional Court.
Chairman of the Constitutional Lawyers Association, Viktor Santoso Tandiasa, assessed that the government's move to place three deputy ministers as commissioners of Telkom after the decision to ban concurrent positions from the Constitutional Court showed a bad political will.
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"It seems that the political will of the government is very bad because it takes advantage of the gap in what the Constitutional Court means in giving the government two years to improve," said Viktor, who also filed a lawsuit for judicial review of Article 23 of Law Number 39 of 2008 concerning the Ministry of State.
In his lawsuit, Viktor and online motorcycle taxi driver Didi Supandi asked that the deputy minister be confirmed in the ruling to be banned the same as the minister should not hold concurrent positions, one of which is as a State-Owned Enterprises Commissioner.
According to him, the intention of the Constitutional Court to give a deadline so that the government immediately reshuffles the ranks of commissioners who are concurrently deputy ministers through the GMS, not the other way around. Viktor added that the government would sooner make improvements, better the impact.
"It seems that the government has deliberately misinterpreted the two years given to become aji while, instead of deliberately placing the deputy minister until the two years have been given by the Constitutional Court. This is of course very ironic and illustrates the mentality of the officials," he said.
At the end of last month, the Deputy Speaker of the DPR from the Gerindra Party faction, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, said that in the revision of the BUMN Law which is currently rolling in the DPR, one of the materials is to accommodate the Constitutional Court's decision which prohibits the dual position of deputy minister as commissioner of BUMN.
However, a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Mulawarman University, Herdiansyah Hamzah, reminded that the execution of the Constitutional Court's decision should not have to wait for the revision of the BUMN Law. Herdiansyah said that if the Constitutional Court's decision was not implemented immediately, the government could be considered to have complied with the constitution. In addition, the government can also be categorized as violating Law Number 39 of 2008 concerning the Ministry of State.
"We understand that the President has full authority to appoint his ministers, but the President is also not allowed, yes, managing this country like a cowboy, right. He must be bound by the rules. Well, one of them is the order of the Constitutional Court's decision. If the Court says that concurrent positions that are prohibited also apply to deputy ministers, it means that the government must be consistent with the order of the Constitutional Court's decision," he said.
The phenomenon of Wamen's concurrent position, which was even carried out after the Constitutional Court's decision, emphasized that the filling of positions in BUMN was thick with a platformase scheme in exchange for political support.
"If they support the candidate for leader or then hold power, there will be material rewards, and one of the material rewards provided is the position in BUMN," said Secretary General of Transparency International Indonesia (TII) Danang Widoyoko.
Meanwhile, Executive Director of the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS) Bhima Yudhistira reminded that the appointment of commissioners based on political affiliation without considering competence will lead to the failure of SOEs.
This meritocracy is broken. The effect is the demoralization and decline of productivity (employees). Who wants to be the director of SOEs in the future? The range of careers is broken because those who are smarter at work will still lose to those entrusted by you," said Bhima explaining.