Jokowi Names Compromise ‘Work Cabinet’

TODAY

27 October 2014

JAKARTA — Indonesia’s new President unveiled his Cabinet yesterday, a compromise line-up featuring technocrats in key finance roles who will need to push painful reforms to fix the country’s slowing economy, but also including politicians who supported his spectacular rise to power.

Mr Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, a 53-year-old former furniture salesman, was sworn in as President last week amid high hopes of progressive leadership in the world’s fourth-largest country.

He had promised to promote professionals to top posts rather than party officials and yesterday named a 34-member Cabinet in which 18 were seen as technocrats. The rest of the Cabinet jobs went to members of the four political parties supporting him and included the appointment of the daughter of former President Megawati Sukarnoputri to a senior position.

“The Cabinet is a reflection of Mr Widodo’s desire to govern independently without the need to contend with transactional politics and Ms Megawati’s aspiration to retain substantial influence over his presidency, particularly when it comes to her interests and the interests of the PDI-P,” said Dr Leonard Sebastian, Associate Professor and coordinator of the Indonesia Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, referring to Ms Megawati’s role as chair of Mr Widodo’s Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P.

Categories:

GPO / IDSS / RSIS / Online / Print

Last updated on 27/10/2014