What was a disused hall in the State Palace complex has been refurbished to become Indonesia’s Situation Room, borrowing its concept from the White House Situation Room, and equipped with the latest technology, to allow the government to supervise projects and situations nationwide.
With six large screens, the government can now connect to the Internet and monitor conditions across Indonesia from the comfort of the Bina Graha building at State Palace.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono held the first Cabinet meeting in the new room on Monday, presenting the room to the media.
As head of the Presidential Working Unit on Development Supervision and Control, Kuntoro Mangkusubroto will be in charge of the room.
Yudhoyono said the government could make strategic decisions based on information gathered there.
“We have the ability to make strategic decisions with this. In realtime situations ...,” he said.
The US-educated President also said the government could discuss state secrets in the room, which cost up to Rp 8 billion (US$880,000) to develop.
The White House Situation Room is mainly used to monitor and deal with crucial domestic and international issues, and is equipped with advanced technology allowing the US President to maintain command and control of US forces worldwide.
Yudhoyono said there would be red and green signs to indicate whether government projects had failed or run successfully. “The people should know that government projects aren’t cheap. This is important for the people and our integrity,” he said.
The first meeting in the Situation Room discussed various issues including the progress of each ministry and government institution; climate change; electricity blackouts and micro-credit for micro-
businesses.
Yudhoyono said with this room he could take strategic decisions abroad, supported by information collected there.
“A decision maker should be able [to make decisions] anytime, even while travelling domestically or abroad,” he said.
“Therefore, it shouldn’t be a political issue when the President makes decisions when on duty abroad,”
Kuntoro said every two months he would report to the President the progress made in government projects monitored by the system.
“During this time we will send teams to many locations. Aceh, Malang and some other places,” he said.
Kuntoro provided examples of railway and road projects that could be monitored in the room.
Yudhoyono was positive that government projects would run more effectively under surveillance by the new system.
Kuntoro’s working unit recently released reports on the progress of action plans handled by 45 ministries and government institutions.
From 369 sub-action plans under 14 sectors listed in this year’s national priority development programs, 49 we judged “disappointing”.
Previously, Kuntoro also released a similar report on the action plans conducted for the new Cabinet’s first 100 days in office in 2009.
Earlier this month Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said government spending in the first half of this year had failed to run as expected, with spending having reached only one-quarter of the Rp 1,126.1 trillion allocated in the 2010 state budget revision.
Slow government spending has been a recurring problem in Indonesia, hampering economic growth, as most government institutions spend the bulk of their money in the last quarter of the year, analysts
have said.
