Prohibition of Concurrent Positions for Vice Ministers in the State Ministry Law

A fundamental question arises: Can a Vice Minister hold concurrent positions? In fact, there is no prohibition on concurrent positions for Vice Ministers that is literally regulated in the laws and regulations. The prohibition on concurrent positions is only regulated for Ministers in Article 23 of Law Number 39 of 2008 concerning State Ministries, which regulates as follows:

Ministers are prohibited from holding concurrent positions as:

  1. Other state officials in accordance with statutory regulations;
  2. Commissioners or directors of state-owned companies or private companies; or
  3. Leaders of organizations financed by the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget or the Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget.

Consideration of the Constitutional Court: Concurrent Positions of Vice Ministers are the Same as Ministers

Considerations of the Constitutional Court: Furthermore, the Constitutional Court provides important legal considerations regarding the fact that there is no prohibition on concurrent positions for vice ministers which results in a vice minister being able to concurrently serve as a commissioner or director in state-owned or private companies.

Regarding this fact, according to the Constitutional Court, even though the vice minister assists the minister in leading the execution of the ministry's duties, because the appointment and dismissal of the vice minister is the President's prerogative, just as with the appointment and dismissal of ministers, the Constitutional Court opines that the vice minister should also be placed as an official, just as the status given to ministers.

With such status, the Constitutional Court asserts that all prohibitions on concurrent positions that apply to ministers as regulated in Article 23 of Law 39/2008 also apply to vice ministers. The reason the Constitutional Court provides this consideration is so that the vice minister focuses on the workload that requires special handling in their ministry as the initial reason for the need to appoint a vice minister in a particular ministry.