Calls grow for Indonesian President Prabowo to end deputy ministers' dual roles

The Star

22-07-2025

JAKARTA: Pressure is mounting on President Prabowo Subianto's administration to remove more than two dozen deputy ministers from their roles as commissioners of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) after the Constitutional Court maintained its position that cabinet members can not hold dual appointments.
Out of the 56 deputy ministers in Prabowo's Cabinet, the largest since the Reformasi Era, at least 30 are currently serving in concurrent roles as SOE commissioners.
The latest appointment came earlier this month when Second Deputy Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister Stella Christie was named commissioner at Pertamina Hulu Energi, the upstream subsidiary of state-owned oil and gas giant Pertamina.
Amid mounting concerns that the practice could threaten good governance and undermine anti-corruption efforts, Juhaidy Rizaldy, executive director of Indonesia Law and Democracy Studies (ILDES), filed a legal challenge with the Constitutional Court.
He petitioned the Court to explicitly interpret Article 23 of the 2008 State Ministry Law, which prohibits ministers from serving as SOE commissioners, as also applying to deputy ministers.
Juhaidy argued that the Court had already addressed this issue in its 2020 ruling on a 2019 judicial review, where it stated in the judicial opinion that deputy ministers should likewise be subject to the ban on dual office-holding.
The Court ultimately dismissed Juhaidy's petition as inadmissible, citing the loss of his legal standing following his death on June 22.
However, it reaffirmed that its 2020 ruling had 'explicitly prohibited deputy ministers from holding dual positions', a prohibition the government has yet to enforce.
Constitutional law expert Feri Amsari of Andalas University said the latest ruling reinforces the Court's earlier position: that deputy ministers are held to the same standard of accountability as ministers and are therefore barred from holding overlapping roles.
'Although the Court deemed the latest petition inadmissible due to the petitioner's passing, the substance remains identical to the [2020 ruling]. Therefore, it carries the same legal weight,' Feri said on Monday.
Echoing Feri, Bivitri Susanti of the Jentera School of Law said on Monday that the Court has already made it abundantly clear that deputy ministers are constitutionally barred from holding dual roles.
Although this standard is articulated in the Court's judicial opinion rather than the ruling's final clause, Bivitri stressed that such opinions are legally binding, and that disregarding them would erode fundamental principles of good governance.
'The Court has recognized that holding dual positions is unconstitutional because it undermines the principle of good governance,' she said.
'It means that deputy ministers should be assessed based on their performance in public office, not on their roles in SOE boards'.
Constitutional law expert Yance Arizona of Gadjah Mada University (UGM) said the government is clearly violating both the State Ministry Law and the Constitutional Court's rulings, given that 30 deputy ministers are concurrently serving as SOE commissioners.
He urged the Prabowo administration to rectify the situation, warning that their appointments could otherwise be challenged in the State Administrative Court (PTUN) for breaching good governance principles.
'The government must either remove them from their commissioner roles or from their positions as deputy ministers. Alternatively, those serving in dual roles should take responsibility and voluntarily step down from one of the posts,' Yance said.
Presidential Communications Office (PCO) chief Hasan Nasbi previously defended the dual roles held by deputy ministers, asserting that the Constitutional Court's ruling does not explicitly prohibit such concurrent appointments.
He argued last month that while the Court's opinion may imply a restriction, the formal decision only applies to ministers, not their deputies.
Hasan was unavailable for comment when contacted by The Jakarta Post on Monday (July 21).
While the Court has reaffirmed its stance against dual positions, momentum around enforcing the ruling appears to have slowed amid broader debates over its recent handling of the election law.
Growing concerns over the weak implementation of the Constitutional Court decisions come as talks to revise the Constitutional Court Law resurface.
These talks were reignited following the Court's ruling to separate national and local elections, a decision which has faced opposition from political parties in the national legislature. - The Jakarta Post/ANN