Jakarta – Aides to President-elect Joko Widodo continued on Tuesday to elaborate on the make-up of the incoming cabinet, amid a general sense of disappointment that it fails to improve on the current cabinet that is largely beholden to political parties and their interests.
Among the changes will be the split of the current Education Ministry into two ministries: one to oversee primary and secondary education, and another for tertiary education, which will also be merged with the existing Research and Technology Ministry.
"The Higher Education and Research Ministry will ensure that new knowledge can be applied," Andi Widjajanto, a deputy chairman of the team preparing the transition for Joko's presidency, said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
"It will also make the guidelines for research funding clearer. We can expect to see more basic research, more innovation and more useful technology from there."
Andi said the Primary and Secondary Education Ministry, meanwhile, would be free to focus on the most formative and important years of learning, and to encourage a culture of curiosity and research that would carry on into university years.
"Primary and secondary education will be strengthened so that students can have a strong level of skill. They will also get a mental revolution there," he said, referring to a nebulous concept that the president-elect coined earlier this year to refer to a change in mind-set.
Anies Baswedan, another deputy chairman of the transition team and a renowned educator, said the rationale for the education split was also to ensure that Indonesia could benefit from its demographic bonus, with the majority of its 250-million-strong population in their productive ages.
He added that the Joko administration wanted to ensure a healthy and educated population "so that they can achieve independence and happiness."
"If you are unhealthy and uneducated, it's difficult to become independent. That's why we're proposing [new health and education schemes] so that access to both can be guaranteed," Anies said.
Not addressing the issues
But even as the transition team reveals details about the new cabinet, officials have acknowledged the general disappointment at Monday's announcement that 16 of 34 ministers would come from political parties.
Joko had repeatedly promised that his cabinet picks would not be based on political horse-trading with the parties that backed him, but the interim make-up – not far off President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's move to allocate 17 ministerial posts to political allies – suggests otherwise.
Joko also tried to refute any talk of his having made political compromises, by arguing that none of the "strategically important" ministries, such as finance, energy and agriculture, would beheaded by political appointees.
He did not address the corollary to this argument – that ministers from political parties were thus incompetent to handle important roles, and yet would still be in charge of other ministries.
Senior officials from his party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, also continued to deny that they were pressured by their coalition partners to farm out cabinet seats.
"That's not the case at all," Puan Maharani, the daughter of PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, said on Tuesday. "We've said from the beginning that this administration is an unconditional one. Our common vision is to build a better future for the country and to strengthen the presidential system."
PDI-P secretary general Tjahjo Kumolo tried, with little apparent success, to clarify Joko's remarks on Monday differentiating between "professionals" for the "important" ministries and "party professionals" for the other ministries.
"My take on his statement is that he didn't mean for there to be this dichotomy between political parties and professionals," Tjahjo said on Tuesday. "There are many professionals in political parties and many professionals who support political parties. What's important is to ensure the cabinet performs."
Andi said he could understand is people were pessimistic about Joko's cabinet structure, which differs very little from Yudhoyono's, but claimed that the president-elect would employ a different method to select his ministers.
"The candidates will undergo a tight selection process with regard to their competence and professionalism," he said, without actually explaining how this differed from the way Yudhoyono selected his minister.
Anies, meanwhile, who has been widely linked to one of the two education posts, said the candidates would be selected based on their competency in the field in question, their leadership skills and their track record.
One key office currently without a minister is the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, following the resignation of the incumbent, Jero Wacik, earlier this month after he was named a corruption suspect.
Jero was only the third minister in Indonesian history to be charged with corruption while still in office. (The two others, Andi Mallarangeng from the Sports Ministry and Suryadharma Ali from the Religious Affairs Ministry, were also from the Yudhoyono cabinet and similarly chose to resign after being charged.)
Speculation has abounded about who Joko will pick to replace Jero, with Poltak Sitanggang, the chairman of the association of miners, or Apemindo, among the favorites for the post.
Also seen as standing a good chance is Darwin Silalahi, the president director of Shell Indonesia, although observers suggest that his long track record with foreign oil companies may not be compatible with Joko's more nationalistic views on energy policy.
Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/still-clarity-team-jokowi-clean-cabinet/