TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Since they were sworn-in on October 20 last year, President Joko Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla have shown differences of view and positions with each other. Among them, the nomination of Police Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan as the new chief of police, the issue of criminalizing the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and giving remission to convicted corruptors.
Their differences of view became wide open over the establishment of the Presidential Staff Office. Kalla claimed he only knew that this unit was to be led by Luhut Binsar Panjaitan when Jokowi was about to take Luhut's oath of office on December 31 last year. Kalla has reportedly become ever more upset at the increasing authority given to Luhut, which he views as undermining the function of the vice president.
Kalla compares relations within the cabinet like a football match, which needs improvement in its communication. "When it's still early in the game, there are many mistakes in the passing," said Kalla. The following is the Tempo team's interview with Jusuf Kalla at the vice president's office last week.
Meeting at the Bogor Palace last week, President Joko Widodo seemed upset because he was not getting reports about the price of rice going up to Rp10,300 per kilogram.
But the opposite happened. It's gone down, right? Maybe the ministers thought, the price had gone down again, so it's back to normal, no need to report it (laughs).
So he wants everything reported to him?
He just wants to know that the problem has been resolved.
On the establishment of the Presidential Staff Office, was this something that had been agreed upon by you and the president?
Well, the presidential staff consists of six units: the state secretariat, the cabinet secretary, the president's chief of staff, the National Planning and Development Board (Bappenas), BPKP (the financial audit board) and the president's advisory council. We had hoped they would all according to their assigned tasks.
Was there overlap?
We would solve that problem. This happens everywhere, even in past administrations.
How did you and the president discuss the Presidential Staff Office?
The basic concept was that the president's chief of staff gave inputs to the president, and information. It was not designed for more than that because we had coordinating ministers.
Is this office seen as odd?
No, it's not odd. That's why it should be giving the president inputs, not executing them.
Perhaps the mistake was in issuing Presidential Decree No. 26/2015 on the Presidential Staff Office?
So long as he does not carry out executive functions, it's acceptable. Basically a presidential staff cannot carry out the function of an executive. That function is in the hands of ministers. They can carry out monitoring and evaluation.
Is this office like the UKP4 under the Yudhoyono presidency?
If you remember, I objected to the UKP4 because it didn't work.
So will the Presidential Staff Office be dissolved too?
I don't know. The important thing is that everything must go back to their respective work. (*)
Read the full interview in this week's edition of Tempo English Magazine
