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JAKARTA (The Straits Times / ANN): Indonesian President Joko Widodo replaced six ministers on Tuesday (December 22) in a major cabinet shakeup aimed at recovering from the coronavirus pandemic that has plunged the country into its first recession since the financial crisis of 1998.
Budi Gunadi Sadikin, a deputy minister of state enterprises who also leads the national economic recovery task force, has been appointed as the new Minister of Health to replace Dr. Terawan Agus Putranto.
Sandiaga Uno, a former deputy governor of Jakarta who also ran in the presidential elections as a deputy for Joko’s rival, Prabowo Subianto, has been appointed Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, replacing Wishnutama Kusubandio.
Prabowo is the current Indonesian Defense Minister. Joko had also replaced two ministers arrested for alleged fraud.
Sakti Wahyu Trenggono has been appointed Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries replacing Edhy Prabowo.
Surabaya’s eldest, Tri Rismaharini, will be the new Minister of Social Affairs who will replace Juliari Batubara.
The new Minister of Religious Affairs will be Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, leader of the Ansor youth wing of Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization.
The Minister of Commerce has also been replaced by Muhammad Lutfi.
Joko, or Jokowi as he is better known, did not comment after appointing the new ministers. However, he wrote on Facebook: “What is past is past, to live as memories and lessons. We look to tomorrow with determination, enthusiasm and new hope.”
The inauguration of the new ministers will take place on Wednesday (December 23).
Cabinet reorganization can be done at any time, but usually about a year after cabinet installation. The ministers were evaluated and then moved to more suitable positions or replaced if they were found to be malfunctioning.
Jokowi has threatened a ministerial shakeup as early as June, when he chided his ministers for their lackluster handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has infected more than 650,000 people and killed some 20,000 in Indonesia.
The incoming Health Minister Budi is expected to chart a new course of actions and commitments to mitigate the economic and health impacts of Covid-19 on Southeast Asia’s largest economy of 270 million people.
The 56-year-old former banker – listed as one of The Straits Times’ 50 Asians to Watch in 2018 – is known to possess strong management skills that can prove invaluable when dealing with topics such as disbursing health budgets and distributing health care budgets. health care resources. – News from The Straits Times / Asia
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