REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Former justice minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra has said it was risky for ministerial posts to remain vacant for a relatively long time, as there was no one to make policies in ministries.

"All ministers were decommissioned on October 20, 2014. No one can make a decision until ministerial posts are transferred to new ministers. And secretaries-general only have the rights to handle operational matters," Yusril stated here on Thursday.

President Joko Widodo, better known as Jokowi, was installed as Indonesia's seventh president on Monday, October 20, and with that, all ministers were decommissioned.

The President had not announced the lineup of his cabinet ministers until Thursday afternoon.

According to Yusril, if something extraordinary happens to the President and Vice-President, there will be no one to legally execute the government administration.

"If, for example, the President and Vice-President are shot to death, then this country will turn chaotic as there will not be ministers who can take over. The Constitution stipulates that if the President and Vice-President are simultaneously absent or incapacitated, then they will be replaced by ministers," Yusril stated.

Yusril, who is a constitutional law expert, also commented on President Jokowi writing to the House of Representatives (DPR) regarding his plan to replace or increase the number of ministries.

"It is a waste of time, because the right to arrange cabinet composition rests with the President," he noted after attending a hearing at the Constitutional Court (MK).

He explained that in Law No. 39/2008 on State Ministries, there is no regulation on the matter (writing a letter to the DPR).

It will be better if the President writes the letter after forming his cabinet, so that the government can run immediately.

Yusril remarked that the President writing to the DPR will only prolong the vacuum in the government, as he will have to wait for seven days for DPR's answer and install his ministers.

Yusril said Jokowi needed the DPR's considerations to synchronize the works of the DPR with new ministries.

"When new ministries are formed, they have to have forum or commissions in the DPR, for example the DPR Commission on culture and education affairs," he added.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika