Abdullah Azwar Anas Appointed as Minister of Bureaucratic Reform

TheIndonesia.id - President Joko Widodo will inaugurate Abdullah Azwar Anas as Minister of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform (MenPAN-RB). Azwar Anas was previously the Head of the Goods/ Services Procurement Policy Institute (LKPP) since January 13, 2022.

"Today at 13.30 Western Indonesia Time, Azwar Anas will be sworn in," said an internal source at the presidential palace as reported by Antara in Jakarta, Wednesday, September 7, 2022.

The position of MenPAN-RB has been vacant since Tjahjo Kumolo, PDI-Perjuangan politician passed away on July 1, 2022. Since July 15, 2022, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menkopolhukam) Mahfud MD has served as Acting Minister for MenPAN-RB, while Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian has also served as ad interim Minister of PAN-RB on 4 - 15 July 2022.

The Chairperson of the PDI-Perjuangan party Megawati Soekarnoputri has actually given the names of the MenPAN-RB candidates to President Jokowi since mid-2022. Still, the inauguration of the MenPAN-RB has not yet been implemented.

Azwar Anas served as the Regent of Banyuwangi for two periods, namely in the 2010-2015 period supported by the National Awakening Party and the 2016-2021 period supported by the PDI-Perjuangan. Previously he was a member of the national parliament.

While serving as the Regent of Banyuwangi, Azwar Anas was considered successful in encouraging tourism in the regency, including by organizing a number of activities such as the Tour de Ijen, Banyuwangi Festival, Banyuwangi Ethno Carnival, and the Banyuwangi Jazz Festival. Banyuwangi won the "Innovation Government Award" as the most innovative regency in Indonesia in 2018.

A number of Banyuwangi innovations were included in the field of education, namely the Regional Movement to Adopt Young Out of School Children (Garda Ampuh), the Banyuwangi Teaching program, and providing pocket money and transportation money for students from underprivileged families. In the health sector, there are pick-up and treatment program for the poor who are sick, vegetable hawkers who seek high-risk pregnant women customers, "Tonepong Jiwa" program for People with Mental Disorders (ODGJ), and social program that provides free nutritious food every day to poor elderly alone which is named "Rantang Kasih".

In the livestock sector, there is an e-livestock program, an electronic livestock card (e-Nak) to record livestock containing historical data on cattle.