Palace Asked To Publish Millennial Stafsus Presidential Decree And Explain Their Duties

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

JAKARTA - Since being inaugurated in November 2019 until now, the public continues to question what the duties and responsibilities of President Joko Widodo's millennial special staff are. The palace, through the Ministry of State Secretariat (Kemensetneg), was asked to immediately open information about the duties and responsibilities of these young people.

Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher Wana Alamsyah said it was time for the Ministry of State to inform the public about the appointment of special presidential staff. Moreover, all this time, this information has never been published so it cannot be accessed by the public.

"ICW submitted a request for public information to the Ministry of State Secretariat. The request was made because the Ministry of State Affairs did not provide information in the form of a Presidential Decree (Keppres) on the appointment of special presidential staff," Wana said as quoted by VOI in a written statement, Wednesday, April 22.

Wana noted that since President Jokowi's 13 staff members were appointed, 7 of whom were millennial staff, the public never knew clearly what their duties were and the legal basis for the appointment of these staff members.

In fact, it is stated in Article 21 paragraph (1) of Presidential Regulation Number 17 of 2012 concerning Special Envoys for the President, Special Staff for the President, and Special Staff for the Vice President, the appointment and main duties of this special staff must be determined by a Presidential Decree.

"However, based on ICW's monitoring on April 21, 2020, the Presidential Decree regarding the appointment of special staff was not found on the setneg.go.id page," he said.

Wana considered the Presidential Decree not being presented as inconsistent with Law Number 14 of 2008 concerning Freedom of Information (UU KIP). Moreover, this law regulates that every decision and policy of a public agency must be provided with a Presidential Decree.

To obtain a copy of the Presidential Decree, ICW sent a letter to the Ministry of State Secretariat. Wana hopes that after this, the institution will immediately open information about the Presidential Decree to appoint these expert staff because the public is already waiting.

"The openness of information regarding the Presidential Decree regarding the appointment of special staff is urgently needed by the public. The alleged conflict of interest that has occurred a few years ago has led to a polemic. This polemic has been exacerbated by the absence of clear information regarding the duties and responsibilities of special staff and the law of their appointment," explained Wana.

It is known that the allegation of a conflict of interest among the staff members was blowing hard in the public. Currently, there are two Jokowi millennial staff who are suspected of using their positions to get projects in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

They are Andi Taufan Garuda Putra who is the CEO of PT Amartha Mikro Fintek (Amartha) and Adamas Belva Devara who is also the CEO of Ruangguru.

Andi's polemic emerged after he sent letters to sub-district heads throughout Indonesia using letterhead belonging to the Cabinet Secretariat of the Republic of Indonesia. In his letter, there were two things that asked Andi to pay attention to the heads of 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.

Later, Andi was criticized by the public, especially on social media, because he was considered to have violated procedures and was afraid of a conflict of interest. Andi is the CEO of Amartha or the company mentioned in the letter. He clarified and apologized, and withdrew all the letters he had sent.

According to him, even if the activities in the letter are carried out, all of them will use donations that can be accounted for and without a state budget.

After Andi's polemic had subsided, now it was Belva's turn to be in the spotlight. This is because the company is a partner for the Pre-Work Card program. Moreover, several parties said that the appointment of Ruangguru as a partner for the Prakerja card was not through the existing mechanism, although this was denied by the government.

In contrast to Andi, who only apologized and clarified his letter, Belva then resigned from his position as a millennial staff because he did not want the polemic to continue amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although the public appreciated Belva's resignation from his staff position, Wana considered it too late for the Ruangguru CEO to do so. It should have been, before being criticized, Belva had already resigned first.

"From the start, every public official with a conflict of interest resigns from his position. Even when offered, he should resign from his position in his company," said Wana.

In addition, Ruangguru's participation as a working partner in government programs should be stopped and immediately further evaluated because the election process was not transparent. "The selection process is not in accordance with Presidential Decree No. 16/2018 concerning the procurement of goods and services," he concluded.