President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and Vice President Boediono have completed the selection process of their team. Fairly, the new team should be given sufficient time to work and prove whether they are capable or not. Although we are not very satisfied with the cabinet composition and the "minimum" curriculum vitae of some of them, we should not respond it with cynical comments. How could we say particular ministers are not the right person to hold the position even before they start their works? We better think positive, don't we?
President SBY will be the most responsible one for his minister failures because, using his authority, he selected whoever he thought were the suitable persons to be his team. Of course, that's also based on negotiation and political deals though SBY showed the recruitment process was the same as a professional company treated the job seekers.
At the end of the process, when the list of names was announced, the public collectively raised their eyebrows after learning of several names being put there.
However, I think the public has understood there's consequences to the government forming this grand coalition. It makes sense in politics that nothing is "gratis" (free), isn't it? In simple words, in politics, if I were to support you, how would I benefit? That's why long before SBY and Boediono won the presidential election, public have known that SBY-Boediono administration would be more colorful than before.
Of the 37 team members, 20 ministers are from political parties. Public concern about correlation between the names against the posts they have assigned, since most of them (from the political parties) did not match with their background and track record, lack of experience and competency. So what? My friends, that's the consequences, and let's think positively (again). Otherwise it will be too difficult to explain.
The selected ministers have signed an integrity pact provided by SBY. They have passed the interview, passed the medical checkup as well as the psychological test, and they have been sworn in as ministers in the presidential palace. What else? It is time for them to work, and of course, time for us to watch them do so.
Now the day is running. Let's see what the new ministers will do within first 100 days because the targets have been defined by SBY to the ministers.
We would expect the 100 days program to be closely monitored and evaluated by the President at the end of the 100 days, and if the performance of the ministers is poor, replacement is required. It's fair enough.
But, should the President SBY replace an incompetent minister from one political party with another person from the same political party? I would hope not, because the essence is to recruit the best person for the sake of the country. If initially SBY has offered the political parties to submit their best persons, and their performances donot meet with expectation after some period of time, aren't they entitled to be substituted? How could the political party take President SBY as the hostage to accept whoever candidate that they are proposing no more better resources they have?
Let's remind SBY and Boediono that they won more than 60 percent votes. Frankly, the victory could not automatically creditable to the parties that coalesced and supported the duet. Winning votes as much as sixty percent is not a trivial value in election, because if we compare it to United States presidential election 2008, Barack Obama "only" won 52.9 percent over John McCain. That's not a landslide victory, but we saw that Obama was confident in picking his confidants.
Logically, with the strong support from people, which was as much as 60 percent, there's no reason for SBY to bow down to parties' pressure. SBY should be confident since he has won the direct presidential election, and this time is the second victory for him. It was the people who consciously delivered the mandate to him, not the "king maker" like with previous presidents.
So Mr. President, I agree with you when you said to your ministers that in regards to the jobs, their loyalty should only be to the President and not to the party. You should encourage yourself to act decisively towards your ministers for serving people and perform all the best. If they failed, people would appreciate if they stepped down voluntarily. If they don't, you have to pull out a red card.
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Serpong, 27 Oct 2009
Titus J.
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