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Foreign-trade ministry? Not going to happen 'overnight'
With less than a week left until President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s inauguration for a second term, a heated debate has resurfaced among businesses and analysts over a plan to put the Trade Ministry’s international trade functions under the Foreign Ministry
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span>With less than a week left until President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s inauguration for a second term, a heated debate has resurfaced among businesses and analysts over a plan to put the Trade Ministry’s international trade functions under the Foreign Ministry.
Observers are wondering how far the new government might go in making fundamental structural changes to the ministry’s nomenclature and fear it may take too much precious time and energy away from more important tasks and might even increase business uncertainty.
Yose Rizal Damuri, lead economic researcher at the Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said any plan to revise the Cabinet nomenclature required “deliberate thinking”.
Dissolving and moving functions from the Trade Ministry to the Foreign Ministry, he said, had to be well planned, considering it might not be fully accomplished within a year or two.
“It is not a smart move. We can learn from what we have done [regarding nomenclature changes in other ministries] in the last period,” Yose said on Monday.
From a legal perspective, Jokowi is unlikely to follow through with the plan, as the 2014 law on trade stipulates that international trade, along with domestic trade, is the domain of “a minister responsible for conducting government affairs related to trade”.
“If the nomenclature is to be changed, the law must first be revised,” Yose said, noting that any revision would take an even longer time to issue.
The President may also have to deal with a possible lack of understanding over job descriptions should he try to merge the two ministries’ functions, said Asmiati Malik, a researcher at Asian Scenarios.
“Sometimes, we can establish a new institution overnight, but even then the [human] resources won’t be ready,” Asmiati said, while highlighting the two ministries’ differences in approach.
Meanwhile, businesspeople have raised concerns on the possible effects the changes might have on the country’s business ecosystem, amid the escalating threat of a global recession.
“In this situation, what is needed most by investors and businesspeople is stability and certainty of doing business [in Indonesia],” said Shinta W. Kamdani, deputy chairwoman at the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), on Sunday.
Businesses were particularly afraid of the effect Jokowi’s plan may have on the current export-import regime under the Trade Ministry, she said.
Jokowi recently floated the idea of adding new functions to the Foreign Ministry as part of wider efforts to boost exports with a view to narrowing the current account and trade balance deficits.
The suggestion did not go uncriticized, especially with the leader keeping his cards close to his chest amid an uptick in political horse-trading ahead of the Cabinet announcement.
Jokowi has repeatedly said he had finished deciding the Cabinet line-up, but he has so far refused to name names. Various officials contacted by The Jakarta Post have also been reluctant to make statements regarding the planned reshuffle or any changes in nomenclature.
During a recent visit to East Java, however, Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita seemed to express resistance to the idea, although he told journalists that the issue remained the exclusive prerogative of the President.
“[Nomenclature changes] will not be an easy thing to do. The characteristics [of the trade and foreign ministries] are different,” said Enggartiasto.
The debate has unwittingly affected predictions for the new Cabinet lineup. A few months ago, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi seemed most likely to continue in her current position, having doubled down on economic diplomacy in accordance with Jokowi’s wishes.
Retno led efforts to host several high-profile business-matching events to tap into so-called nontraditional markets that include South Asia, Africa, Latin America, the South Pacific and Central Europe.
But the nomenclature debacle has led to the emergence of alternative candidates, including Mahendra Siregar, a contemporary of the incumbent minister who is currently serving as Indonesia’s ambassador to the United States.
With a background as an economist and a proven portfolio in trade and investment, Mahendra is seen by some observers as a worthy contender for the top diplomat’s post, although a source familiar with the decision-making process said the career diplomat may also be in consideration for a Trade Ministry position. (tjs)
— Made Anthony Iswara contributed to the story
