A Piece of the Story of the Elites' "Bancakan" from Regime to Regime

The change of regime is almost always accompanied by a change in the leadership of government auxiliary institutions. The number of institutions may be adjusted based on how extensive the entourage brought by the head of the regime is. Power resembles a "feast" that circulates only among a handful of elites.

The most recent instance of such "exploitation" was captured in the case of the inclusion of several cadres of the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) in the structure of the Operation Management Office for Indonesia’s Forestry and Other Land Use (FOLU) Net Sink 2030. This team was formed by the Ministry of Forestry (Kemenhut) to implement the government’s strategy in reducing carbon emissions in the forestry and other land use sectors in order to achieve the target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.

The issue lies in the fact that the Minister of Forestry, Raja Juli Antoni, who also serves as the Secretary General of PSI, has appointed himself as the person in charge as well as the director of the Indonesia’s FOLU Net Sink 2030 team. This is stated in the Minister of Forestry Decree Number 32 of 2025 concerning Amendments to the Decree of the Minister of Environment and Forestry Number 234 of 2024 regarding the Establishment of the Organizational Structure of the Operation Management Office for Indonesia’s FOLU Net Sink 2030.

The total number of members in the team is 43 people. Among them, there are at least five individuals with a background as PSI politicians, including Andy Budiman, who also serves as the Deputy Chairman of PSI. He holds the highest position compared to his fellow party members, namely as a member of the Expert Advisory Council.

Several other PSI cadres, such as Kokok Dirgantoro, Sigit Widodo, Yus Ariyanto, and Suci Mayang Sari, hold positions lower than Andy. They only serve as members of various divisions within the team.

The public uproar was sparked by the leaked information about the honorarium that Raja Juli and his colleagues would receive after joining the team. Referring to the Minister of Forestry Decree No. 32/2025, Raja Juli will receive the highest salary, amounting to Rp 50 million per month. The second-highest salary will be received by Andy, which is Rp 25 million per month. Meanwhile, other members who only hold positions as field members will receive a salary of Rp 20 million per month.

The findings have angered senior politician of the Golkar Party and member of Commission IV of the House of Representatives, Firman Soebagyo. Previously, Golkar Party and PSI were in the same camp during the 2019 Presidential Election. Both supported the Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka ticket and are now part of the coalition of political parties supporting the Prabowo-Gibran administration.

"This damages the system and governance structure of the government as well as governmental institutions. Governmental institutions seem to become political tools or instruments to achieve certain objectives that contradict the law," said Firman, Saturday (8/3/2025).

According to Firman, the team members should consist of experienced figures in forestry and environmental sustainability. They cannot just place party cadres, especially if they do not have the appropriate background and capacity.

The placement of party cadres, said Firman, resulted in the weakening of the state civil apparatus (ASN) position. In fact, the filling of positions seemed to ignore the meritocratic system that should be implemented.

"ASN should have the opportunity, but it is so easy to be replaced by a group of party cadres who are not necessarily professional. This kind of recruitment system is rampant in the government lately," said Firman.

Therefore, Firman hopes that President Prabowo will pay attention to such problems. Do not let similar cases happen again. Especially if it is seen as a normal thing in the government employee recruitment system.

"I ask President Prabowo to firmly prohibit and immediately determine his stance so as not to add to the public and students' frustration lately," Firman emphasized.

In this regard, the Spokesperson for the PSI Central Leadership Council Agus Mulyono Herlambang did not deny the news that PSI cadres were included in the structure of the Indonesia's FOLU Net Sink 2030 team. This is in accordance with the statement of the Ministry of Forestry's Public Relations regarding the team personnel consisting of ASN, retired ASN, and external parties from the ministry who can help the team run the program.

"The Minister (Raja Juli) appointed several non-party professionals and professionals from the party to strengthen the team. This has also happened in the past," said Agus. (Kompas, 7/3/2025)

Regarding the team's budget, Agus re-emphasized the statement from the Ministry of Forestry's Public Relations which stated that the funding did not come from the State Budget (APBN). The funding entirely came from donors or partner countries in accordance with legal regulations. That way, he considered, the APBN was not burdened.

Government institutions such as being political tools or political instruments to achieve certain goals that are contrary to the law.

Agus also guaranteed the capability and integrity of the PSI cadres whose names are listed in the Decree of the Minister of Forestry No. 32/2025. Later, the cadres will occupy secretarial support positions. Their duties will assist the minister's performance in terms of administration. The suitability factor is considered to influence the selection of these figures.

"Because I have been helping the Minister (Raja Juli) for a long time, I can immediately work hard," said Agus.

Looking further, the act of sharing "cake" like what Raja Juli did is not something new at all. Many of Raja Juli's seniors in the political world have done it. In fact, his ministerial status was obtained after he and his party supported Prabowo-Gibran during the 2024 Presidential Election.

As head of state, the political element is very strong when Prabowo determines his cabinet. The number of acting coordinating ministers, ministers and deputy ministers in the Red and White Cabinet reaches 91 people. That number has almost doubled compared to the number of members of the Advanced Indonesia Cabinet Volume II, led by Jokowi-Ma'ruf Amin, which is 53 people.

The fat portion of the Prabowo-Gibran-led cabinet seems to accommodate the size of their campaign team during the electoral contest. This can be seen from the proportion of ministers who came from a political party background, which reached 57.14 percent. This is added to the ministers who have a volunteer background such as Cooperatives Minister Budi Arie Setiadi.

With a volunteer background, Budi Arie has also done something similar to Raja Juli. He made the Treasurer of the Pro Joko Widodo Volunteers (Projo) Panel Barus as Deputy for Cooperative Business Development at the Ministry of Cooperatives, on January 3, 2025. The strong content of sharing positions is suspected considering that Budi Arie has the status of general chairman of the volunteer group.

Also, Budi Arie was part of the recipients of the "bancakan" from the previous regime, led by Jokowi. He was appointed as Minister of Communication and Informatics in Jokowi's second term. The inauguration took place on July 17, 2023. It was about a year before Jokowi stepped down.

The same thing applies to Prabowo. Jokowi made him Minister of Defense since the beginning of his second term. Over time, the political constellation made Jokowi and Prabowo partners. At its peak, Prabowo took Jokowi's eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, as a vice presidential candidate in the 2019 Presidential Election.

Senior Researcher at the Center for Political Research, Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Firman Noor said that in fact, the act of sharing positions is a common phenomenon in a democratic system. Every change of regime will result in a change in the figure of the leader of a state institution.

"Actually, this is to maintain the certainty of the work agenda based on the ideology or vision of the winning party running well. However, it is still based on capability. That is the normative situation that usually occurs in developed countries with established democracy," said Firman.

Unfortunately, Firman continued, the issue of capability and professionalism is often overlooked in the practice of power sharing in Indonesia. Especially ministerial positions that have a higher political nuance than expertise. As a result, mere capital closeness can lead a politician to occupy such strategic positions.

Professionalism, said Firman, should not be sacrificed for political interests alone. Public positions must also be accountable to the public. Don't let them be filled by people who don't have the capacity. Because, later on, the ones who will suffer the most are the people.

"Here it takes maturity and virtue from the ministers and the president. From those who have top positions to be able to recruit the best people in the cabinet," said Firman.

The case of Raja Juli's distribution of positions to fellow PSI cadres is just a small example. Similar incidents have occurred many times before. Unfortunately, the efforts to improve the welfare of the people are still not visible. If public office is held only to enrich one's own group, what is the benefit?