H

eated tensions within President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo'€™s Cabinet have started to subside, with two working units under the President'€™s direct jurisdiction taking the initiative to set up a mutual commitment to ensure his prioritized development programs are free from unnecessary interference.

The commitment, signed by Presidential Chief of Staff Teten Masduki and National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) chief Sofyan Djalil on Thursday, is aimed at synchronizing the planning and monitoring of national priority programs and will seek to include 12 clusters of priority programs in the National Mid-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) and the annual Government Working Plan (RKP).

Among the 12 clusters are infrastructure development, energy security, food self-sufficiency, agrarian reform, maritime development, rural development and industrialization, as well as Papuan development.

'€œWe will ensure and maintain consistency of the RPJMN and the RKP with the vision and mission or the Nawacita [Sanskrit term for nine programs] of the President,'€ Teten said on Thursday. '€œIn reality, there is still a gap, in which the Nawacita has yet to be fully accommodated in the RPJMN and RKP.'€

Teten said that adjustments in translating Jokowi'€™s presidential campaign into a national development blueprint were unavoidable due to budget constraints, certain domestic conditions and the political situation of the House of Representatives.

Jokowi recently issued a regulation that allows for more than 200 national strategic projects, including railways and toll roads, to receive special attention from the government. Although it is included on the list, uncertainty is still surrounding the country'€™s first high-speed railway project, mainly because of disagreements between public officials involved in the project.

Teten declined to comment whether the uncertainty of the project was linked to recent heated disagreements among a number of Cabinet ministers, which have escalated to public character assassinations. However, the shared commitment was apparently made to prevent such unnecessary disagreements that might hamper the President'€™s development programs.

According to Teten, the commitment was made to create better synergy between ministries and related institutions in supporting the programs.

Jokowi has obviously provided room for debate during Cabinet meetings, but some of his ministers were unable to restrain themselves from participating in heated public debate and creating confusion over government policies, with the latest incident being the conflicting statements from Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Rizal Ramli and Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said over the controversial plan for the development of the gas-rich Masela block.

According to Sofyan, the two offices have started drafting the 2017 RKP and is also introducing four approaches of planning '€” holistic, thematic, integrated and spatial principles '€” in the draft.

'€œActually, the essence of the President'€™s goal is to reform Bappenas [by transferring it into President'€™s jurisdiction], so that Bappenas can draft a budget plan in line with the President'€™s priority [program],'€ Sofyan said.

Jokowi, who, according to presidential spokesman Johan Budi, was unhappy with his ministers for bringing internal Cabinet disagreements to the public instead of focusing on their jobs, might soon ask for explanation from all of his ministers involved in the recent public spats, including Rizal and Sudirman.

A number of observers have previously cast doubts over the government'€™s credibility and its ability to run the country effectively, while lawmakers have criticized the government'€™s failure to stop such internal rifts from going online into the wider public.

Separately, Johan said Jokowi'€™s recent call to his ministers to stop bickering was indeed aimed at silencing such publicly expressed disagreements, which may hamper his Cabinet'€™s overall performance. He played down criticism that suggested from the beginning Jokowi should have been able to position himself as the leader and acted sterner with his ministers.

'€œHaving different views is allowed by the President. But they should be expressed inside Cabinet,'€ Johan said on Thursday in echoing his previous statement.
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