By: Ahmad Pahlevi )*
The Indonesian people have witnessed the inauguration of the President and Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia which has been running smoothly, now we also know who the figures who filled the ministry posts, where some of them are indeed quite inviting public attention.
As we know that the position of minister is determined by the President, where the President as the leader of the country has the prerogative to elect and even reshufle ministers from his cabinet.
Together with Vice President Ma’ruf Amin, Jokowi held a Plenary Cabinet session with the Minister of Advanced Indonesian Cabinet.
One of the ministers who had enough attention was the election of Tito Karnavian who served as Minister of the Interior in his cabinet, he had been officially appointed by President Jokowi to replace Tjahjo Kumolo who now serves as the Minister of Administrative Reform of the Bureaucratic Reform.
The former Chief of Police is well known and often appears in the media because during his tenure as Chief of Police since 2016, he has made a great achievement.
Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo said, Tito Karnavian had a good achievement since he was in the Police Academy until the peak of his career as the National Police Chief. He also believes that the task carried by Tito will strengthen President Jokowi in the Advanced Indonesian Cabinet.
If traced, Tito was the first Minister of the Interior in Indonesia who came from the police force. During the Soeharto era, the post of interior minister was always filled by the army, which seemed to be a rationale for the Army.
In the era of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) to stop military domination in the Ministry of Home Affairs, he then appointed a civilian figure to serve as Minister of Home Affairs, namely the Governor of West Sumatra Gamawan Fauzi.
Tito Karnavian’s name became widely known when he succeeded in capturing Tommy Soeharto, the mastermind of the murder of Supreme Court Safiudin, in 2001. In this operation he served as the Head of the Cobra Team formed by the Jakarta Police Criminal Investigation.
He also had the task of detachment 88 Anti-Terror Metro Jaya Police in 2004. He led the team with 75 personnel. At that time he also managed to dismantle and capture terrorists in Indonesia.
The team succeeded in crippling terrorists such as Dr. Azhari and his group in Malang, East Java in November 2005. His success in dealing with terrorism led to Tito being drawn to the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT). Shortly thereafter, in 2012, Tito was assigned as the Papua Regional Police Chief for 2 years
In 2015 his name was increasingly known when he was appointed as Metro Jaya Police Chief. He was considered good in handling the Sarinah Thamrin bombing terrorist incident in Jakarta.
Meanwhile, there are interesting things in the Advanced Indonesian Cabinet, where the Minister of Religion is elected from a military background, namely Fachrul Razi. Of course many did not think beforehand that the ministries in charge of religion in Indonesia were led by civilians both public figures, political parties and professionals. Like Abdul Malik Fajar, Quraish Shihab, Suryadarma Ali, Lukman Hakim and others.
The military retired received a mandate from Jokowi to overcome the issue of radicalism which is indeed the concern of the government and requires a creative approach to overcoming it.
Although he served as Minister of Religion, but because he came from among political parties. He prefers to represent among professionals in the cabinet.
It was noted that Fachrul had served as Operations Assistant to the Chief of General Staff of ABRI (1997- 1998). He also served as the head of ABRI’s General Staff (1998-1999).
Before being appointed as Minister of Religion, Fachrul was summoned by Jokowi to the Palace to discuss various matters such as security, education, human resource development and other related matters.
This position certainly carries a fairly long history before the era of Fachrul Razi who was appointed by the president to fill the Ministry of Religion post.
The election of the two of them in the Indonesian Advanced cabinet certainly is not without reason, this shows that Jokowi is quite observant in choosing figures and figures to be invited to work together in his cabinet.
Those who are elected as ministers must of course show their performance in accordance with the president’s direction. We must also participate in the development in Indonesia and legowo for whoever becomes the minister.
)* The author is a social political observer