September 11, 2025
JAKARTA – Prabowo Subianto’s cabinet shake-up, coming after weeklong protests viewed as the toughest test of his presidency so far, signal the start of his bid to reconsolidate power by replacing underperforming ministers in key government posts and programs with longtime loyalists, analysts said.
At a ceremony at the State Palace in Jakarta on Monday, Prabowo dismissed five ministers and brought in three definite replacements, while also creating a new portfolio and its deputy ministership.
Among those who were removed are cooperatives minister Budi Arie Setiadi and coordinating politics and security minister Budi Gunawan.
Then-cooperatives deputy minister Ferry Juliantono was promoted to minister replacing Budi Arie, while Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin broke the news on Tuesday that he has been named as the interim coordinating security minister.
The President on Monday also appointed Haj Organizing Agency (BP Haji) chair Mochamad Irfan Yusuf and deputy chair Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak as minister and deputy minister of the newly created Haj and Umrah Ministry.
While the cabinet reshuffle came amid heightened public calls for widespread reform, analyst Yoes Kenawas said the shake-up was less about fulfilling these demands and reflected more of Prabowo’s bid to oust those he viewed as underperforming and installing trusted allies in their stead.
“This is most obvious in [former coordinating security minister] Budi Gunawan’s case. While the Palace denied that Budi was removed over Prabowo’s dissatisfaction with his handling of the recent protests, Sjafrie’s appointment suggests otherwise,” Yoes said on Tuesday.
Read also: Defense Minister Sjafrie appointed acting coordinating security minister
A retired Indonesian Army general, Sjafrie is Prabowo’s long-time friend who graduated from the Military Academy in the same 1974 class and later served alongside him in East Timor. Sjafrie once served as a bodyguard of former president Soeharto, Prabowo’s former father-in-law.
Budi, by contrast, is associated with Megawati Soekarnoputri, chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the sole de-facto opposition and party outside Prabowo’s coalition. He led the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) during former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s second term, when Jokowi was still a PDI-P member.
“Sjafrie’s appointment marks the start of Prabowo’s efforts to consolidate [power], although he remains hesitant to do it in one go as key posts like the home minister and police chief are still held by people outside his inner circle,” Yoes said.
Programs in good hands
Analyst Wasisto Raharjo Jati of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) pointed to new appointees’ cooperatives minister Ferry and deputy haj minister Dahnil as evidence that the President wanted his priority programs to be run by his loyalists.
Ferry is not only an executive in Prabowo’s own Gerindra Party, but his appointment also ousted Budi Arie, a loyalist of Jokowi, the former president who helped Prabowo win the 2024 election but has often been seen as seeking to exert influence over the current administration.
Ferry’s ministry oversees the Red-and-White Cooperatives initiative, a flagship program to establish state-backed cooperatives in over 80,000 villages and each cooperative is also slated to support the roll out of the President’s priority program, the free meal initiative.
Read also: Prabowo rolls out state-backed co-ops to boost grassroots economy
Dahnil, meanwhile, is another senior Gerindra politician. He served as spokesman for Prabowo’s unsuccessful 2019 presidential campaign and later as Defense Ministry spokesman when Prabowo was the minister from 2019 to 2024.
Prabowo handpicked Dahnil and the new haj and umrah minister Irfan to lead BP Haji, a body he created in October last year as part of his long-term vision to reform haj management. His coalition at the House of Representatives elevated BP Haji into a full-fledged ministry last month through an amendment to the 2019 Haj Law.
“Both the cooperatives and haj ministries concern the lives and livelihoods of many, and both are spearheading Prabowo’s priority programs. Having their new leaders be Prabowo’s longtime loyalists allows him to be more hands-on in driving these initiatives,” Wasisto said on Thursday.
Also removed in the reshuffle were youth and sports minister Dito Ariotedjo of Golkar Party, whose replacement has yet to be revealed, and migrant workers protection minister Abdul Kadir Karding of the National Awakening Party (PKB), who was replaced by Golkar lawmaker Mukhtarudin.
Karding’s dismissal followed public outrage after he was photographed playing dominoes with Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni and a former illegal logging suspect, whose investigation was dropped after a court declared it void.
Finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, meanwhile, was replaced by economist Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, who has headed the Indonesia Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS) since 2020.