Multiple Positions

Presiden Prabowo menandatangani Keputusan Presiden Nomor 116/P/2025, yang menetapkan Menteri Agricultural Amran Sulaiman mendukap jabatan sebagai Kepala Badan Pangan Nasional (Bapanas). Serah terima jabatan dijadwalkan pekan in Jakarta. Arief Prasetyo Adi, yang selama ini memimpin Bapanas, diterhentikan dengan rehormat.

At first glance, the decision seemed efficient. But behind it there is a big risk of losing the distance between the regulator and implementing food policy.

According to Presidential Decree Number 66 of 2021, Bapanas is a non-ministerial government institution directly responsible to the President with the task of formulating policies for availability, price stabilization, and food reserve management. Meanwhile, Presidential Decree Number 192 of 2024 emphasized that the Ministry of Agriculture takes care of all aspects of agriculture: seeds, land, and post-harvest.

Two different institutions function. But now led by one person. That's where the line of supervision began to run away. The Director of CelIOS Nailul Huda as quoted from Tempo, assessed that Amran's appointment hit the principles of good governance and could potentially cause conflicts of interest. Scaping positions like this is at high risk of causing conflicts of interest. The Ministry of Agriculture is the executor of production, the Badanas of price and distribution. If held by one person, who will supervise?' he said.

The question echoed in the public sphere. Because when one hand regulates production and prices at once, the objectivity of food policy can disappear.

A similar pattern appears in BUMN. A few weeks before Amran was inaugurated, Dony Oskaria was appointed as Head of the BUMN Regulatory Agency (BP BUMN) through Presidential Decree No. 109/P/2025. The problem is, he is still serving as COO Danantara as well as CEO of Danantara Asset Management (DAM) two business entities that are actually under the supervision of BP BUMN.

Whereas Law Number 19 of 2023 concerning SOEs, emphasized the prohibition for directors, commissioners, or the supervisory board of SOEs to hold concurrent positions that cause conflicts of interest. Although the position of BP BUMN as a regulator has not been explicitly regulated, the legal principle of good corporate governance still demands a separation of the role of supervisors and operators.

BUMN observer and NEXT Indonesia Center Director Herry Gunawan considered the move to violate governance ethics. Dony should resign from his operational position in Danantara and DAM. It is impossible for someone to become a regulator as well as a business operator," he told VOI.

Minister of Law and Human Rights Supratman Andi Agtas, at the end of last August in the DPR when explaining the change of the Ministry of SOEs to BP BUMN said, "BP BUMN is a regulator, Danantara is an operator".

In the same circle, Rosan Roeslani, Minister of Investment and Downstreaming as well as Head of BKPM, is also known to be the CEO of Danantara. Rosan reasoned that the double position was to accelerate investment consolidation and downstreaming. The reason for efficiency has re-emerged. Even though the minister who regulates investments and runs it means removing the distance between regulators and business actors.

This phenomenon is widespread. In a rather context. different as revealed in various media reports, there are at least tens of Deputy Ministers concurrently in other positions starting from the commissioners of BUMN or the steering board. For example Giring Ganesha, Deputy Minister of Culture and Commissioner of PT Garuda Maintenance Facility Aero Asia; or Veronica Tan, Deputy Minister of PPPA who is also Commissioner of PT Citilink. There is also Angga Raka Prabowo, Deputy Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs, concurrently Head of the Government Communications Agency (BKP) as well as President Commissioner of Telkom Indonesia.

Padahal Mahkamah Konstitusi melalui Putusan Nomor 128/PUU-XXIII/2025 telah menegaskan: wakil menteri dilarangkap jabatan di lembaga lain atau di BUMN. Menteri Sekretaris Negara Prasetyo Hadi pada akhir Agustus menyatakan pemerintah akan melanjuti keputusan tersebut.

The Constitutional Court's decision does give a transitional period of two years, but according to Dr. Yance Arizona, UGM's constitutional law expert, the two-year period must be read as a deadline, not tolerance. It should be as soon as the Constitutional Court's decision is issued, deputy ministers resign from the position of commissioner. Two years is just the slowest limit," he said in a post on the official UGM website.

All of the above shows a pattern. The buildup of power in one figure. Maybe, if it's in the name of efficiency and acceleration, the boundaries between the supervisor and the executor will run away even more.

This article is not about to attack a figure. All the figures above are recognized capable. Competent. However, true efficiency is born from a transparent system, not from the merger of positions. The scope of position may speed up decisions, but it could also speed up governance damage. Because every supervision requires distance, and each distance requires the courage to say 'no'.

Now that the Minister of Agriculture Amran controls food, Dony regulates SOEs while doing business, Rosan manages investments as well as leads investment companies, and dozens of wamen hold more than one power seat. Everyone feels efficient, even though the country is losing its own barrier.

The power that should have been scattered is now being collected in the hands of several people. The boundaries that should guard are now violated in the name of acceleration. If this trend is allowed, we will no longer talk about efficient governance, but about a government that is in disarray of where supervisors, executors, and decision makers are the same person.

If so, the truth can be replaced by comfort, and efficiency changes to a reason to silence corrections. The state may still stand, but common sense governance can be gradually eroded.

"It may sound bitter but this is for us to think about it for the common good. For the sake of the people and beloved country of Indonesia.