Add Chair Of Social Minister, Observer: Not In Line With Jokowi's Promise To Arrange A Lean Cabinet

Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Photo: Setkab)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo has allocated the position of deputy minister (wamen) at the Ministry of Social Affairs. This is stated in Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 110 of 2021 concerning the Ministry of Social Affairs on December 14, 2021.

With the addition of one social minister chair, the total deputy minister seats in the Advanced Indonesia Cabinet will be 16. Meanwhile in the last Working Indonesia Cabinet, Jokowi only allocated three deputy minister seats.

Political communication observer at Esa Unggul University, Jamiluddin Ritonga, believes that the swelling of the deputy ministerial seat in President Joko Widodo's second term is certainly worthy of questioning. Because according to him, it is not clear the urgency of determining the deputy minister seat in one ministry.

Jamiluddin explained that all the duties and functions of the ministry had actually been completely divided into echelon 1 units. The duties and functions of echelon 1 had also been described operationally by echelon 2 units.

"Meanwhile, all policies related to the duties and functions of each ministry are determined by the minister. The secretary general usually represents the minister in ceremonial activities. And the director general represents the minister in the operational field according to his ministry's duties and functions," said Jamiluddin in Jakarta, Monday, December 27.

"So, the duties and functions of each ministry have basically been completely divided. Therefore, there are no more ministerial duties and functions that need to be distributed to the deputy ministers," he continued.

According to Jamiluddin, the placement of Wamen in the ministry is basically not a necessity. Because he said, the ministry that already has the vice minister's seat also did not improve its performance.

"There is an impression that the Wamen seat is only to accommodate people who are considered instrumental in leading Jokowi to become president. So, the Deputy Minister's seat is only to accommodate political interests," he said.

This, Jamiluddin added, is not in line with Jokowi's desire to save money. He reminded that the burden of the state for the 16 Wamen seats was certainly not small. The country is currently experiencing financial difficulties.

"Therefore, Jokowi should stop adding the deputy ministerial seat. Apart from being unrelated to improving cabinet performance, it is also not in line with his promise to arrange a lean cabinet," he said. Previously, PPP DPP chairman Achmad Baidowi assessed that the addition of the deputy social minister (Wamensos) position was a strong signal that President Jokowi would reshuffle the cabinet. Because he said, until now there are a number of deputy minister positions that have not been filled.

However, Baidowi said, only President Jokowi knew the reason for adding the position of Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Social Affairs.

"This further strengthens public opinion or signals that there will be a reshuffle. If we look at the portion of deputy ministers that has not been filled," Baidowi said, Friday, December 24. The secretary of the PPP faction said that apart from Wamensos, there are other vacant positions in other ministries as Deputy Minister of Social Affairs. "Yes, hopefully in the near future the five vacant positions will be filled," he continued.