Demands To Dismiss Jokowi's Special Staff, Andi Taufan Garuda Putra

President Joko Widodo's millennial Special Staff, Andi Taufan Garuda Putra during a dialogue with MSME players in Banyuwangi (Photo: banyuwangikab.go.id)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo's millennial Special Staff Andi Taufan Garuda Putra is in the public spotlight because he uses the official letterhead of the Indonesian Cabinet Secretariat to send letters to all sub-districts in Indonesia. In the aftermath, even though Andi had apologized, the public demanded that Jokowi remove Andi and re-evaluate the importance of the special millennial staff position.

This official letterhead of the Cabinet Secretariat of the Republic of Indonesia was made on April 1 and is important. In the letter, Andi introduced himself to all sub-district heads in Indonesia as the President's Special Staff.

In the letter, there were two things that asked Andi to pay attention to the heads of the sub-districts. First, about providing education about the corona virus or COVID-19 which is currently spreading. It is PT Amartha Mikro Fintek (Amartha) which will carry out the education by sending officers to the field. Second, Amartha will record the PPE needs at the puskesmas or other health services so that the implementation runs smoothly.

The Special Staff of President Andi Taufan @GarudaPutra, is still YOUNG and has learned to UTILIZE YOUR OPPORTUNITY FOR PERSONAL PROFIT through @amarthaid. This is an example of an acute CONFLICT OF INTEREST. He is not worthy, to be the special staff of President @jokowi. HAVE TO REVEAL IF YOU HAVE SHOULDER @PK_RI pic.twitter.com/EemIQ4fMSW

- Laode M Syarif (@LaodeMSyarif) April 14, 2020

The existence of this letter has been criticized on social media for violating procedures and for fear of a conflict of interest. Andi is the CEO of Amartha or the company mentioned in the letter.

Warganet protested the letter for some time, Andi clarified. The clarification was no longer using letterhead bearing the RI Cabinet Secretariat logo and was made on April 14. He apologized for the letter that had been circulated earlier and withdrew the letter he sent to the sub-districts throughout Indonesia.

"The support is purely on the basis of humanity and at Amartha's expense and with public donations that will be accounted for in an accountable manner. Support is provided without using the state budget, either the APBN or APBD," said Andi in his clarification as quoted on Tuesday, April 14.

(Photo: By courtesy)

However, the apology and withdrawal of the letter were deemed insufficient. According to a member of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Indonesia Alvin Lie, this action is a form of maladministration. In addition, the Ombudsman assessed Andi was violating his duties as a special staff of President Jokowi.

"The task of the special staff is to provide input to the president. The special staff also does not have executive authority, let alone make outgoing letters, circulars," Alvin told VOI via text message, Tuesday, April 14.

Apart from violating his duties, the Ombudsman also touched on the possibility of a conflict of interest because the company referred to in the letter was the company in which Andi played a role. "So that there is a potential conflict of interest," he said.

The use of letterhead with the symbol of the State Secretariat of the Republic of Indonesia is also in the spotlight of the Ombudsman. Alvin questioned the reasons for the use of the official state agency letterhead.

"Has the permission of the State Secretary, Secretariat of the District? This could be a serious violation because the State Secretariat is a state institution and special staff are not authorized to use the letterhead," he said.

Political observer Political observer from Paramadina University Hendri Satrio is not surprised if this special millennial staff will do things like this. This is because it is not easy to enter the government bureaucracy and there is stuttering in it.

"From the start I have told Pak Jokowi that one of the challenges of the millennial staff, this young minister is to enter the bureaucratic circle. But this has happened and he has apologized, hopefully it can be a lesson," said Hendri.

He added, if the millennial staff still want to do business, it is better to focus there rather than entering the government. "If you still want to do business, then do business, don't be a bureaucrat. ... So if you want to help the state, yes, give 100 percent to the state. You don't have to do business so it's messy like this," he said.

Hendri assessed that President Jokowi would get the sap because he was considered to have allowed Andi's abuse of power to occur, even though the intent of the activity was actually good. Hendri said, the President should immediately give a stern warning to Andi's blunder.

"In fact, it should not have to wait for a warning letter from President Jokowi. The staff should already understand what to do. It's a serious violation, the problem is serious administrative violations to be more precise," said Hendri.

Photo of President Joko Widodo with his seven young special staff (doc. Setkab)

The call for Jokowi to fire Andi from a special millennial staff position also came from Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW). ICW researcher Wana Alamsyah said Jokowi should immediately fire staff, especially those still holding positions in other places, to avoid potential conflicts of interest and immediately publish the main duties of these special staff, most of whom are young.

"Indeed, the Presidential Special Staff is mentioned in Article 21 of Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 117 of 2012 that the appointment and main duties of the presudent staff are stipulated by a Presidential Decree (Keppres). known, "he explained.

In addition, as a result of the letter sending incident, Wana also asked Andi to be fired immediately. This is because the millennial staff has ignored the existence of a number of agencies including the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri).

In fact, based on Article 3 of Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 11 of 2015, the task of carrying out correspondence to all sub-district heads who are under the regional head is the duty of the ministry.

"The president must immediately dismiss the special staff who have committed irregularities or use their position as special staff for the personal and group interests concerned," he said.

Chief Expert of the Presidential Staff Office (KSP) Donny Gahral said that the Special Staff of the President Andi Taufan Garuda Putra received a strong warning. In addition, Andi has also apologized, so said Donny, there was no need for further sanctions to be given to Andi Taufan. The most important thing, he said, was that Andi's mistakes should not be repeated at a later date.

"The person concerned has also admitted his mistake and apologized publicly. So we can put it aside and refocus on handling Covid-19," said Donny, yesterday.

Meanwhile, related to Andi Taufan's insistence on resigning, Donny emphasized that this was returned to Andi. "If the person concerned feels the need to resign, he will resign, but the only one who can dismiss the president has prerogative rights," 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.