October 22, 2024
JAKARTA – President Prabowo Subianto has officially sworn in a new cabinet of more than 100 members, which includes his loyalists and the allies of former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, the father of Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, making it the country’s largest cabinet in decades.
The former defense minister and retired Army general took office on Sunday as the nation’s eighth president, taking the leadership baton from Jokowi, his long-time rival-turned-ally who had tacitly supported his presidential bid in February’s election.
The new head of state first announced his cabinet lineup on Sunday evening, some 11 hours after the oath-taking ceremony, naming it the Red-and-White cabinet, referring to the colors of the Indonesian flag.
In two back-to-back ceremonies at the Presidential Palace on Monday, Prabowo officially swore in 48 ministers, 58 deputy ministers and five other heads of ministerial-level agencies in the cabinet.
The 111 appointees feature a mix of Prabowo’s loyalists and reappointees from the administration of his predecessor Jokowi, comprising a diverse group of politicians, technocrats, businessmen and former military generals.
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Prabowo reappointed nearly half of Jokowi’s Indonesia Maju (Indonesia Onward) cabinet members, most of whom are economic-related ministers who will continue their role in the new administration, such as Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto, Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia and State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir.
Sri Mulyani, Jokowi’s finance minister during his decade of presidency, will also continue her duty under Prabowo’s leadership, making her the first person to hold the position under three different presidents.
Before serving as the managing director of the World Bank from 2010 to 2016, Sri Mulyani held a similar ministerial post during the leadership of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. She was the executive director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) between 2002 and 2004.
Luhut Pandjaitan, widely known to be a close ally of Jokowi, and who served as the coordinating maritime affairs and investment minister in the previous cabinet, was appointed to lead the National Economic Council, which is tasked with providing economic-related advice to the President.
Several other Jokowi loyalists were appointed to new roles in Prabowo’s cabinet, including Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Pratikno, who served as state secretary in the previous cabinet, and Cooperatives Minister Budi Arie Setiadi, who previously served as communications and information minister.
Prabowo also introduced figures from his inner trusted circle into the Red-and-White cabinet, such as Gerindra Party member Sugiono, who was assigned as the new foreign affairs minister, and former Army lieutenant general Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, who will fill the defense minister post.
The cabinet roster also includes politicians from parties backing Prabowo’s presidential bid in the February election, such as Coordinating Food Minister Zulkifli Hasan, who is also the chairman of National Mandate Party (PAN), and Coordinating Infrastructure and Regional Development Minister Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, the leader of the Democratic Party.
Prabowo has also restructured and renamed several ministries from his predecessor’s cabinet, such as splitting the Law and Human Rights Ministry under Jokowi’s presidency into three ministries, namely the Law Ministry, the Human Rights Ministry and the Immigration and Correctional Services Ministry.
Another “restructuring” includes separating the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Ministry into the Coordinating Political and Security Ministry as well as the Coordinating Law, Human Rights and Immigration Ministry.
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Potential inefficiencies
Some of the ministers have up to three deputy ministers, such as Deputy Finance Ministers Thomas Djiwandono, Suahasil Nazara, and Anggito Abimanyu as well as Deputy Foreign Ministers Anis Matta, Arrmanatha Nasir, and Arif Havas Oegroseno.
Prabowo’s cabinet is the largest since 1966 when the nation’s first President Sukarno formed an administration of 132 ministers in an extremely tense political situation after a failed 1965 coup. The so-called “Dwikora Cabinet 2” was dismissed a month later.
Some analysts have warned that a bloated cabinet could lead to bureaucratic inefficiencies, which could hinder Prabowo’s campaign programs, such as the free meals program, which would involve significant costs.
But Presidential Communications Office head Hasan Nasbi played down such a concern, arguing that the new cabinet would work more efficiently, having a slimmer structure in each ministry.
“A ministry that initially had a large structure is separated so that it is now slimmer […] This will be much more efficient, in my opinion, because [each ministry] will have a more focused task,” Hasan told reporters on Monday.
Hasan added that Prabowo would ensure that each cabinet member had a shared vision working with the President in the next five years to avoid any “sectoral egos” among ministries.
Prabowo is scheduled to take his cabinet members on a three-day retreat at a military academy nestled in a Javanese mountain range, where they will sleep in tents and are expected to form a bond with each other.
Cooperatives Minister Budi Arie Setiadi said over the weekend that the retreat would be held between Friday and Sunday.