Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ended his visit to Norway last year, where he signed a billion-dollar forest carbon deal, playing positive tunes.
He composed a song inspired by the deal, calling all people to unite to save the earth.
The song, in Indonesian, goes more or less like this: "Unite friends, unite. Unite the world for our earth. Hand in hand protect it. Our offspring will all be safe and sound." Ministers who joined the trip to Oslo, Norway, also sang.
Back in Jakarta, however, unity seems to be on the backburner amid discord between the Forestry Ministry, backed by the Environment Ministry, and the Coordinating Economic Ministry and presidential aides dealing with the environment.
In addition to the relevant ministries, Yudhoyono appointed his close aide Kuntoro Mangkusubroto to lead a team to realize the moratorium, forming a regulation to implement it. The deal says the regulation for the moratorium must be ready by Jan. 1, 2011. The necessary regulation had not been implemented as of Thursday.
The delay in the moratorium is a quintessential incident where the relation between Cabinet ministers, Yudhoyono's own men and ineffective bureaucracy was questioned by critics.
Kuntoro, assisted by nine senior officials and environmental activists, drafted a presidential instruction for the moratorium, which also underlined the need to improve the country's forest management during the moratorium.
Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan is reportedly unhappy with the draft although the ministry's secretary-general Hadi Daryanto is a member of the taskforce.
Zulkifli then proposed another draft and submitted it to Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa. The draft was signed by Zulkifli, Hatta and Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta. Both Zulkifli and Hatta are politicians from the National Awakening Party (PAN).
A source told The Jakarta Post that a number of meetings had been made to bridge the differences between drafts from Kuntoro and Zulkifli but it failed to reach one draft. "Kuntoro and Zulkifli are still fighting to keep their own drafts," the source said.
Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam then stepped in, issuing a "win-win" draft to accelerate a moratorium as promised by Yudhoyono.
Vice President Boediono invited, among other, ministers Hatta, Zulkifli, Gusti and Kuntoro to discuss the draft at Dipo's office. "We reached significant progress after the meeting," Minister Gusti told the Post.
President Yudhoyono has been known as a leader with a strong commitment to the environment. Yudhoyono appoints people known for their expertise and dedication to the environment as presidential assistants. He hired Emil Salim as the presidential special advisory on the environment, former minister Rachmat Witoelar as presidential special envoy on climate change and Agus Purnomo as presidential special staff on climate change. Rachmat is also the executive director of the National Council on Climate Change (DNPI), established under a presidential instruction, with Agus as its secretary-general.
In addition, the Environment Ministry, Forestry Ministry and Geophysics, Climatology and Meteorology Agency have a special unit on climate change affairs. The National Development Planning Ministry and Finance Ministry also established a special division on climate finance.
Indonesian Forum on Environment executive director Berry Furqon said the presidential team had worsened the already poor coordination among existing departments. "The huge bureaucracy established by Yudhoyono is ineffective such as the case of the taskforce on REDD," he told the Post.
Public administration expert from the University of Indonesia, Bob Waworuntu, said the new organizations would create redundant policies. "There have been too many new organizations set up under Yudhoyono. They could further blur coordination among ministries," he said.
Mas Achmad Santosa, a member of the Judicial Mafia Taskforce, however, said his unit did not overlap existing law enforcement institutions. "[The taskforce] does not hold authority. There cannot be overlapping."