President Joko Widodo’s has been suggesting that a cabinet reshuffle was coming for quite a while, and it looks like it will finally happen today. Kompas says Jokowi will announce the dismissal (or in one case, job change) of six ministers and swear in their replacements at 1pm this afternoon.
It looks like Jokowi’s current chief of the staff, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, will replace Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno.
Former Governor of Bank Indonesia Darmin Nasution will replace the current Minister for Economic Affairs Sofyan Djalil. Djalil will then replace current Minister for National Development Planning Andrinof Chaniago.
while the former Minister for Economic Affairs under President Abdurrahman Wahid, Rizal Ramli, will take over for Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Indroyono Susilo.
A former official of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), Thomas Lembong, will take over as Trade Minister, replacing Rachmat Gobel (the architect of the minimarket beer ban, can’t say we’re sorry to see him go).
More troubling is word that another veteran PDI-P politician, Pramono Anung, will be joining Jokowi’s cabinent, replacing Andi Widjajanto as Cabinet Secretary.
Five of the six ministers who will be replaced were summoned to the State Palace by the President and Vice President.
While Vice President Kalla did not answer Kompas directly when asked about the reshuffle after meeting with the president yesterday, he did say, “Cabinet reshuffle? Ha-ha-ha … wait for tomorrow.”
With much of the reshuffle related to economic and trade positions, it seems evident that Jokowi wants to make a big course correction on the country’s economic policies. But will these new ministers be enough to get Indonesia out of the slump it’s currently in?
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