By: Raditya Rahman) *
The Joko Widodo pair – Ma’ruf Amin has officially become the winner in the 2019 Presidential Election event defeating Prabowo – Sandiaga. The victory does not mean making Jokowi complacent in the euphoria of victory, because there is still a mandate and homework that must be executed.
One of the most important things that must be done by Jokowi is arranging the cabinet, this must be done in order to realize Jokowi’s vision and mission in the period 2019 – 2024.
Supporting and non-supporting political parties of Jokowi, as well as a number of mass organizations and parties who sweated him in the presidential election, indirectly conducted themselves to be included in the cabinet cars. Official and unofficial lobbies, rumors and the outbursts of statements in mainstream mass media and social media, seemed to add to the tightening atmosphere of the country’s information recently.
The circulation of documents containing the names of Jokowi’s ministers – Ma’ruf Amin is quite suffocating in the media sphere. Even though the document was spread in the WhatsApp application, Jokowi had not yet decided who the minister would join the work.
Even the dissemination of the results of the meeting in Sentul which announced the name of the minister was also denied by Special Staff President Teten Masduki, who denied that President Jokowi held a special meeting in Sentul to determine the names of ministers in Volume II Work Cabinet.
This news certainly must be responded wisely, we should not rush to mention the name of the minister who would be elected by Jokowi in the Indonesia Working Cabinet.
The question that hung in the public mind was whether Jokowi would form a “zaken cabinet” (an expert cabinet), or would the cabinet accommodate the interests of its supporters as a form of political service.
In the zaken cabinet, the ministers or the majority of the ministers came from experts or professionals. So it is not a representation of certain political parties or groups.
So the minister who will help Jokowi in his cabinet must be filled with people who are credible, and in harmony with Joko Widodo’s vision and mission.
Most political parties already have a place in the legislative domain, the elected President certainly has the prerogative right to decide, who will later fill the position in the ranks of the ministry.
Actually this is the ideal and desires of the majority of the public. But we must also be aware of the political reality. Supporting political parties must be of the opinion that there is no free lunch in the world, however the president’s position in the presidential cabinet system is very strong, different from his position in the parliamentary cabinet system.
Even the President also has the right to dismiss ministers with other people he chooses, this is because the president must understand the performance program of the minister he chose in carrying out all the programs and visions that have been proclaimed beforehand.
Indonesian history notes that in the parliamentary cabinet in the 1950s, the cabinet could rise and fall in a matter of months due to lack of support from the parliament. So President Jokowi should be able to form a zaken cabinet safely. However, if he does not accommodate the aspirations of politicians and their support groups, there could be shocks that disrupt the stability of the government. Therefore, the middle ground that can be taken is to make a compromise.
In this case the President can recruit technocrats who are professional in their fields, while still accommodating the aspirations of political supporters. For example, by asking supporting parties to appoint their representatives from professional circles. But the most important thing is that the cabinet members must be professional experts in the portfolio who will be their responsibility, have high integrity, be innovative and have the ability to run the program.
Thus, representation and political balance are maintained, even the president’s vision and mission can also be realized in his tenure until 2024.
Besides that it does not rule out the possibility that Jokowi will also recruit ministers in the period 2014-2019 to rejoin his cabinet, of course Jokowi will see the minister’s ability to cooperate with other ministries in the cabinet. Including the compatibility or chemistry between Jokowi and the minister.
This shows that the opportunity for ministers in the first volume cabinet to serve as a minister remains open. Primarily for ministers – ministers who can meet the targets given by Jokowi – are also likely to be maintained.
) * The author is a sociopolitical observer