Asia Times: Workers wince at closure of Indonesian ministries



	November 5, 1999	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

Workers wince at closure of Indonesian ministries
By Kafil Yamin

JAKARTA - The logo of Indonesia's information ministry is a flaming torch with the motto 'the fire that is never out', symbolizing its mission to ''enlighten'' people with information. But now that fire - which critics point out has mostly served to control and repress for decades - is out. On October 26, the government of President Abdurrahman Wahid decided to close two large government agencies - the ministries of information and social affairs.

The decision was unexpected by many, since the two big ministries had played a key role in state affairs from the formation of the Indonesian republic in 1945. The information ministry, which runs state, radio and television stations, and played a major role in controlling the press and in disseminating information, employed some 55,000 workers throughout the country.

The social ministry has at least 35,000 workers, who do not relish the idea of losing their jobs in difficult economic times. The ministry runs numerous orphanages, foundations and rehabilitation centers for drug users and ex-criminals as well as facilities for the elderly and the disabled.

Wahid said the two ministries' employees will be moved to local administrations, since the abolition was part of a campaign to decentralize power and promote regional autonomy. Despite his guarantee that none would be fired, the workers have been in an uproar over the abolition. Minutes after the decision was announced, ministry workers, led by their directors and former ministers, marched to the state palace, just a few hundred meters away, demanding a review of Wahid's decision. Shrugging off security protocol, Wahid and Vice-President Megawati met the protesters. Wahid insisted that he would not back down, but promised to do his best for the 23,000 employees of the social ministry and the other 50,000 staff members of the information ministry.

Critics see political revenge behind his decision to close the information and social ministries. ''There are strong political sentiments against us because during the New Order era, the ministry was a tool for disseminating propaganda,'' said Jerry Pelokila, head of the administration department of the information ministry's provincial office.

Employees of the social ministry throughout Indonesia threatened to abandon orphanages, rehabilitation centers, and other humanitarian institutions if the government went ahead with the decision. In Bandung, some 130 km south-east of the capital, hundreds of disabled people, social ministry workers and students staged a mass prayer rally to try to change Wahid's mind.

But to others, trimming the bureaucracy is a good, if painful, move. ''It is indeed a good decision,'' said Abdurrahman, a civil servant in West Java. ''Regardless of its overwhelming role in disseminating information in the past, the ministry now lacks relevance. Today we have thousands of press publications, new radio and TV stations. They are more than enough to disseminate information,'' he explained. ''We have a state secretary who informs the community about the President's activities. And at the conclusion of monthly cabinet meetings, ministers talk to the press about their respective fields.''

The English-language Jakarta Post says that some of the functions performed by government ministries could be done better by others. ''If we return to the philosophical argument, there is no doubt that these ministries must go, as must one or two other ministries,'' the Post said in its November 2 editorial. ''The ministry of information may be performing vital functions, but these functions could be much more effectively and efficiently carried out by the private sector,'' it added.

The abolition is part of what Wahid says is his preference for giving local communities more room to carry out their own initiatives, in contrast to Suharto's centralized style. Briefing the press after the announcement of his cabinet in late October, Wahid said that ministries would function more as coordinators. ''We want to see the people work for themselves with their own initiatives. We are moving to launch people's empowerment,'' he said.

Though the social affairs ministry was abolished, Wahid had named a coordinating minister for social welfare and poverty alleviation - who does not run a full bureaucracy but whose job is to promote social programs.

Meanwhile, other officials have expressed willingness to help the employees out: Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso said his city administration was ready to accept about 580 employees. Other regional administrations have made similar offers, saying that they actually need more people under what is expected to be more autonomous administration.

Some say that, had the president not taken present social circumstances into account, he might have abolished more ministries. When he was head of the Muslim Nahdatul Ulama organisation, he was a persistent critic of the ministry of religious affairs, an institution he sees as state meddling in religion and vice versa.

There is also talk that the education ministry may be in for drastic changes. ''The ministry may remain needed, but as manager or administrator, not as an institution that runs universities, schools, and appoints and assigns teachers,'' one analyst said. ''For too long, bureaucrats have taken the task of educating our children out of teacher's hands, with devastating consequences for the quality of their education,'' the Jakarta Post observed. The time has come to leave teaching to the real professionals, it said.

(Inter Press Service)

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©1999 Asia Times Online Co., Ltd.