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SINGAPORE: Indonesian President Joko Widodo reshuffled his 14-month cabinet last week.
While the move was widely anticipated, the sweeping changes came as a surprise. Six ministers were replaced.
Two, Social Affairs Minister Juliari Batubara and Fisheries Minister Edhy Prabowo, were expelled after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested them last month for taking bribes, and their posts were filled. by Jokowi loyalists, Sakti Wahyu Trenggono and the popular mayor of Surabaya. Tri Rismaharini.
Four of the ministries crucial to Indonesia’s recovery from COVID-19 were apparently replaced due to poor performance. Health Minister Dr. Terawan Agus Putranto has been fired, and the critical portfolio will be led by Budi Gunadi Sadikin, a longtime banker turned deputy minister of state enterprises just prior to this reorganization.
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The Indonesian ambassador to the United States, Muhammad Lutfi, replaces Agus Suparmanto as Minister of Commerce, a position he used to hold under the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Fachrul Razi was dismissed from his post as Minister of Religious Affairs and replaced by the civilian politician Yaqut Cholil Qoumas.
Sandiaga Uno will take over as Wishnutama Kusubandio’s Minister of Tourism.
APPOINTMENT OF SANDIAGA ONE
Nothing has drawn more public attention than the appointment of Sandiaga Uno. As Prabowo Subianto’s running mate in the 2019 presidential election, the duo had launched one of the fiercest and most polarizing fights for first place in recent history.
Sandiaga also teamed up with current Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan in a bitter 2017 election fight against popular former Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (affectionately known as Ahok), a close ally of Jokowi.
Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan and his deputy Sandiaga Uno greet journalists before the swearing-in at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia on October 16, 2017 (Photo: REUTERS / Beawiharta).
Speculation about Jokowi’s intention to embrace Sandiaga and appoint him to his cabinet has been rife. Is it part of Jokowi’s strategy to embrace a part of the opposition to divide and weaken it?
Or do you show that you value diversity of thought and aspire to form a “team of rivals” in your cabinet? After all, Prabowo himself is on board and serving as Defense Minister.
My view is that this latest cabinet shakeup shows just how far Jokowi has come since taking office six years ago and suggests the legacy he intends to leave behind.
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JOKOWI’S POLITICAL EVOLUTION
You have to remember that Jokowi came to power on an anti-establishment platform. It is about a man who presented himself as an outsider in 2014, in a country where political elites and the military often rank highly.
He was catapulted to the presidential seat just 10 years after his first foray into politics as mayor of his hometown, Surakarta, without being indebted to any of the political parties that have come to define and dominate Indonesia’s political landscape for decades.
His rise to power defied the odds and captured the imagination of many ordinary Indonesians. Many heralded his victory as a new era in Indonesian politics.
Joko Widodo on a visit to a power plant in 2017 (Photo: Rusman / Presidential Palace / AFP)
A key reason Jokowi won was his reputation as a man of the people. As Governor of Jakarta, he had made many impromptu visits (blusukan in Javanese) to places that elites do not normally approach and do not speak directly to people.
With a clean and corruption-free reputation, he is a down-to-earth and practical leader, consulted widely and got things done, while retaining strong support from unions and the business community.
A NEW MAN
This image went out the window after Jokowi won his 2019 re-election. He has no more blusukan. He has been more tolerant of outrageous behavior.
Despite calls to remove the Minister of Health, Dr. Terawan Agus Putranto, as early as March (when Dr. Terawan lobbied for a pioneering contested stroke treatment) he grew up with his Severe mismanagement of the pandemic, Jokowi took a wait-and-see approach.
His vision now focuses more narrowly on what experts call “new developmentalism”, with its focus on deregulation and its conservative nationalist slant, moving away from Jokowi’s past reform agenda and a nod to the old ways of doing things in Indonesia.
Indonesians now rarely hear directly from Jokowi, who has disappeared into the fog of government bureaucracy and politics. Many now think that Jokowi has become a professional politician, focused on negotiation and adept at distributing power to suit the interests of the elite.
After all, Jokowi had allowed the passage of amended laws that weakened and ended the KPK’s independence in 2019, by requiring oversight of the legislative and executive branches and suspending investigation of cases after two years, among other changes.
Indonesians took to the streets in massive demonstrations. Jokowi’s promise to remedy these changes never materialized.
Strong concerns about the 2020 Job Creation Act (Omnibus Law), which abolished the sectoral minimum wage, reduced severance pay and relaxed restrictions on outsourcing, which is said to benefit the interests of large companies, He also saw huge demonstrations to no avail.
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These gestation feelings were ignited in December 2020 when both Jokowi’s son and son-in-law entered politics. His son, Gibran Rakabuming, was elected mayor of Surakarta. His son-in-law, Bobby Nasution, won the mayoral race in Medan, Indonesia’s third-largest city.
This sudden leap by members of Jokowi’s immediate family, after long denying that they had an interest in entering politics, has created an uproar. There was talk of the beginning of a new political dynasty.
It took President Suharto 30 years to promote his daughter Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana to political office and President Yudhoyono waited until the end of his term before his son, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, was sent to the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election. .
Agus Yudhyono.
Rumors also began to swirl. The Indonesian weekly Tempo published an investigative report on corruption in welfare provision that suggests a link between corruption in the Ministry of Social Affairs involving Gibran, who has since denied the allegation.
The truth will take time to come out. But these developments show just how much Jokowi has evolved from being a breath of fresh air to looking more like the same political establishment that has come before.
Against this background, the recent cabinet shakeup suggests that Jokowi is eager to strengthen his influence over Indonesian politics and solidify his base. Both ministers fired for corruption were from PDI-P and Gerindra, the two most powerful parties in Indonesia.
Although he was the presidential candidate of the PDI-P, Jokowi does not control the PDI-P. In fact, it has little influence over any political party.
But he has learned how many maneuvers among political forces to build a supportive coalition it takes to hold the country together, especially after the 2018 large rally against then-Jakarta Governor Basuki, who became a punching bag for the conservative forces.
Indonesian Muslims held a rally calling for Ahok’s arrest in Jakarta, Indonesia on December 2, 2016. (Photo: REUTERS / Darren Whiteside)
Perhaps not surprisingly, Jokowi then abandoned his desire to reform Indonesian politics.
ELITAS HAVE A PLACE IN JOKOWI’S NEW DEVELOPMENT
Just hours after the new cabinet members took office, the newly appointed Minister of State-Owned Enterprises, Erick Tohir, uploaded a photo taken 31 years ago of Erick Tohir, Sandiaga Uno and Muhammad Lutfi, to his Instagram account.
The image revealed that the trio, a generation of “crazy rich” pribumi entrepreneurs from Indonesia, had known each other for a long time, grew up during the New Order regime, with businesses that have prospered since the fall of President Suharto.
They were trained at the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (HIPMI). They have shared backgrounds as venture capitalists.
And with influential positions overseeing the economy, they now have not only influence within the Indonesian business community, but also influence.
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For now, the most important figure in this triumvirate is Erick Thohir. He was the director of the Jokowi reelection campaign.
Together with Lutfi, Erick founded a joint venture, Mahaka Group. His older brother Garibaldi Thohir shares a business with Sandiaga through PT Adaro Energy, the second largest coal mining company in Indonesia.
Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno was a running mate of presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto in the 2019 elections (Photo: AFP / Goh Chai Hin)
The trio will be the main one when it comes to unleashing big companies and helping Jokowi realize his new vision for development. Jokowi has made investment and growth key objectives in the grand design of its economic strategy.
And he’s in a hurry. It pushed through both the Employment Creation Law (Omnibus Law) and the Minerals and Coal Law in 2020, easing investment requirements, without much objection from the Indonesian political class.
One final thought. Through this reorganization, Jokowi also looks to the future. He has trained his eye on the world of Indonesian politics in 2024, where he may have opportunities to insert his influence beyond his presidency.
By bringing formidable opposition figures like Prabowo and Sandiaga into his government, he probably hopes to contain his opponents, especially Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, and carve out a role in the shadows afterward.
Made Supriatma is a visiting fellow at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute.
