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So what are we waiting for in Cabinet reshuffle? After Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was elected President in 2004, he conducted a fit and proper test to select his ministers, then offered a work contract and integrity pact to be signed by the minister candidates. It is not clear to the public what the actual contents of the work contract and integrity pact were. But no matter what they were, we are pretty sure those documents have been kept under the pillow. In the Cabinet reshuffle this time, SBY is doing the same.
Do the work contracts contain key performance indicators (KPI) as are normally included in professional work contracts? Considering the ministerial posts, which are so important that they affect a huge nation like Indonesia, can we imagine what the KPIs looked like? But it does not mean anything for common people because what people expect from the ministers basically is very simple.
People do not care whether or not the ministers sign work contracts and integrity pacts to show their commitment because people always think about very basic and essential things, for example from the agriculture minister: will food be affordable, eliminating rice imports, cheaper fertilizers for farmers? What people expect from the education minister includes can they send their children to quality but affordable schools, are the schools building in proper condition, and does the education curriculum stress out their children?
What people expect from the youth and sport minister: Can our beloved soccer team beat other national teams, become champion in international events such as the SEA Games or participate in the World Cup Finals.
What people expect from the law and human rights minister: Simply that the truth be upheld in this country, corrupt judges and prosecutors sent to jail and human rights upheld. Similarly, what people expect from the religious minister: That Indonesia become a land of peace, where religious diversity is maintained in harmony and there is no more persecution against religious minorities.
I mean, what SBY has done in the minister selection process was too little, simply trying to create an impression or “gagah-gagahan” (just for show), but in reality the outcome is too far from the expectations as we can see obviously from the ministers’ performance.
Thus, what is the point of doing due diligence if he fails to find quality ministers because he is too complicated and accommodating of parties for the sake of the stability of the coalition? We are seeing how the majority of his ministers selected from coalition parties are nonperformers, and some of them are implicated in corruption, but he appears reluctant to punish them.
All of my friends with whom I have spoken about the reshuffle say they don’t care, and many of them have expressed disappointment as we have seen that the President is not a leader.
A respected leader, former United States secretary of state Colin Powell said, “Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through arguments, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand”.
Titus Jonathan
Serpong, Banten
Human rights watchdog Imparsial has criticized President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for his slow response to the Papua conflict, highlighted by the fact he has yet to install a development acceleration unit chief.
Imparsial said Lt. Gen. Bambang Dharmono had not yet been installed as Papua and West Papua development acceleration unit chief, despite his appointment already having been regulated in presidential decrees.
“I am concerned that this problem will linger on without a solution,”
Imparsial executive director Imparsial Poengky Indarti said Tuesday,
as quoted by kompas.com.
Poengky explained that despite the issuance of presidential decrees No. 66/2011 and No. 154/2011 stipulating Dharmono’s appointment, the military official could not start work before he was officially installed by the President.
She said that the President’s sluggishness on the matter was an indication of his lack of commitment in efforts to handle the conflict in Papua, at a time when leadership is in dire need to prevent the situation from deteriorating further.
Poengky said Imparsial, along with the people of Papua, had placed their
hopes on the development acceleration unit to support the community in efforts to overcome the conflicts, by holding dialogues in the interests of
the region’s development.
Bambang Dharmono gained regional development experience when he helped rebuild a conflict-torn Aceh after the Helsinki peace pact.
FRANKFURT, Germany — Even if Europe dodges a financial meltdown, it may not be able to avoid a recession.
The deal European leaders reached last week to defuse the continent’s debt crisis was thrown into turmoil Tuesday by the Greek prime minister’s surprise move to call a referendum on Greece’s latest rescue package. If voters reject the package, Europe could face a potentially devastating Greek default on its debt.
Stock markets plunged around the world, particularly in Europe.
Even if the debt agreement leads to a long-term solution to the crisis, the pact does nothing about other threats to Europe’s economy: deep cuts by over-indebted governments, high unemployment, stingier bank lending and declining exports.
Many economists think Europe is nearing a recession that would harm the United States, China and other countries whose economies depend on the continent. The problems are illustrated by The Associated Press’ latest quarterly Global Economy Tracker, which monitors data in 30 countries:
_ Four nations – Italy, Spain, Britain and Norway – reported annualized growth of less 1 percent in the April-June quarter. Economies generally must grow at least 2.5 percent a year just to keep unemployment from rising.
_ Spain had the highest unemployment among countries the AP tracked: 21.2 percent in August, which rose to 22.6 percent in September.
_Greece and Italy were buckling under the weight of government debt. In Greece, those debts equaled 161 percent of national output in the January-March quarter, second to Japan’s 244 percent. Italy’s government debt equaled 113 percent.
Financial markets have been spooked by fears that Greece and perhaps larger countries, like Italy, would default on their debts.
By DAVID B. CARUSO, The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — With its noisy drum circle, meandering parades of bandanna-clad youth and disdain for centralized leadership, the Occupy Wall Street encampment sometimes has the ragtag look of a group that is making things up as it goes along and discovering its own purpose along the way.
But from the start, the movement has also gotten support from a long list of experienced, well-funded organizations, unions and political committees – sometimes to the discomfort of more radical protesters who worry about their message being co-opted or watered down.
After an initial hesitation to get involved, unions from Boston to Los Angeles have sent members to march in the demonstrations and donate air mattresses, food and other supplies. In Oakland, unions representing teachers and government workers are encouraging members to take a day off from work to march with protesters Wednesday.
MoveOn.org, a group that has given millions to liberal Democrats, has promoted the demonstrations relentlessly on its Web site and in blast emails.
To most of the youthful radicals at the movement’s heart, all this help is welcome, but with a caveat.
“This is a movement of individuals, not managed political coalitions,” said Alexa O’Brien, one of the many early organizers who helped get the New York occupation started on Sept. 17.
Unions can be great, and their support is “critical,” but they can be corrupt, too, she said. And the Democratic Party, she added, is part of the problem.
“If you are going to ask corporations to get out of elections, you have to ask all special interests to get out of elections,” she said. “This movement is about building civic infrastructure for regular citizens.”
Today, the group that has now occupied a city park for six weeks shows few signs that it is allowing outside organizations a substantial role in planning its marches, making decisions, or deciding what issues to embrace. But it has also turned to a network of left-leaning organizations for help, some of which have been around since before most of the protesters were born.
The group of activists who began meeting to plan the demonstrations in mid-summer included several people who had been involved in an organization called US Uncut, which is affiliated with the Institute for Policy Studies, a Washington think tank that cut its teeth opposing the Vietnam War.
When Occupy Wall Street needed an established nonprofit group to help handle incoming donations, which have now topped $500,000, they turned to the Alliance for Global Justice, an entity originally founded in 1979 to build support for the communist Sandinista government in Nicaragua.
The National Lawyers Guild, whose members have been representing dissenters, peaceniks, and civil-rights activists since1937, has set up Occupy legal hotlines in 19 cities and been representing protesters arrested across the country.
Even the unofficial newspaper of the New York encampment, The Occupy Wall Street Journal, didn’t simply spring organically from the protesters’ base in Zuccotti Park; it is a special edition of the Indypendent, an alternative newspaper that has been publishing for 11 years.
All of this support by outside groups has become a rallying point by the movement’s critics, who have accused it being manipulated behind the scenes by government worker unions trying to keep taxes high, or by Democrats trying to use the “class warfare” card in upcoming elections, or by community organizing groups trying to drum up support for government entitlement programs.
If that’s happening, there is scant evidence in Occupy Wall Street’s daily organizational meetings, where the demonstrators seem to focus a substantial amount of time and energy on the logistics of keeping the camp running and building an organization. Much of the assistance provided has been more inspirational than operational.
Chuck Collins, a senior IPS scholar, said that while US Uncut activists provided a list of media contacts to the demonstrators, produced some graphics, and brought skills they had honed in past protests against “corporate tax dodgers,” the organizing effort was autonomous, with no initial support from organized labor, foundations or other “major institutional players.”
IPS Director John Cavanagh said that while was aware that some of his younger colleagues were involved in planning the protest, they did so independently of the institute. The institute didn’t offer any financial assistance, “and I don’t know any other established progressive groups who did,” Cavanagh said.
“I will admit honestly that I had doubts as to whether they would have any impact,” he said of his attitude toward the demonstration.
Even the editors at Adbusters, the Canadian magazine that came up with the idea for the demonstration and registered the OccupyWallStreet.org website, appear to have had little influence over the movement’s direction. Its subsequent calls for the occupiers to rally behind a demand for a 1 percent global tax on financial transactions has yet to be embraced by the encampment, which has strongly resisted making any specific demands.
But that hasn’t stopped groups like unions from jumping on the Occupy bandwagon, and maybe advancing their own agenda.
“It’s something that has energized our membership,” said Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, which has turned part of its New York headquarters into storage space for the protesters.
Strong union participation in an Oct. 5 march in Manhattan made it one of the largest for any “Occupy” event to date.
Communication Workers of America political director Bob Master said that while many demonstrators have a political philosophy to the left of the typical trade unionist, “Most of the labor movement in New York recognizes that these young people have sparked a national discussion about issues that are central to our agenda.”
Support has also come from groups known for raising large sums for Democratic political candidates – a development that has bothered some demonstrators.
MoveOn angered some Occupy protesters with an Oct. 18 fundraising email that asked members to help it build on the momentum created by the protests by chipping in $5.
MoveOn’s executive director, Justin Ruben, said the group wasn’t trying to mooch off of the movement.
“We’ve been clear about what we’re fundraising for,” he said. “We’re not them. We’re not Occupy Wall Street. We’re very clear that we don’t speak for them. They seem like they are doing a great job getting their voice out. And we want to help.”
Democracy for America spokeswoman Levana Layendecker said that while the PAC was prohibited by federal law from giving direct cash assistance to Occupy Wall Street, it was hoping to provide support in other ways, including donating cold-weather sleeping bags and medical supplies.
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