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resident Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has asked his ministers to make no strategic policies until the new Cabinet lineup is announced, his spokesman has said.

“This is the President’s order to his ministers. They should not initiate any strategic policies until the reshuffle is carried out,” Julian Aldrin Pasha told reporters at the State Palace on Wednesday.

The order is seen by many as a sign that the impending Cabinet reshuffle is imminent, with online media reporting that Yudhoyono might announce the new Cabinet members on Saturday or Sunday.

Julian said that the order aimed at enabling new ministers to synchronize policies made by their predecessors. “This will affect the government in the future.”

The President is said to have finalized the names of the ministerial candidates, although no official claims to know about the president’s choices.

Yudhoyono will likely announce the new Cabinet before Oct. 20, which marks the end of the second year of his second term in office.

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Fadel Muhammad was quoted by online media as saying that the announcement would likely be made this weekend.

“The process is almost complete. The state secretary has informed us not to travel overseas in preparation for the reshuffle,” Fadel said.

The public is still in the dark over which ministers the President will remove, let alone the new faces that will shape his Cabinet’s policies in the next three years.

The President reportedly summoned Investment Coordinating Board chairman Gita Wiryawan and National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas) chairman Budi Susilo on Tuesday night. He also summoned two coordinating ministers; Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa and Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto.

However, no presidential aide has any information on the cabinet shake-up, except that Yudhoyono has finalized the shortlist of the new Cabinet ministers.

This has not deterred politicians from commenting on which ministers should be kicked out of the Cabinet.

The Golkar Party, Yudhoyono’s largest coalition partner, is said to have had talks with the President over his reshuffle plan.

Party member Harry Azhar Azis said on Wednesday that the Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo’s performance was “mediocre” and that he deserved to be replaced. “I think he is [mediocre] but I don’t know if the President wants to have that kind of minister,” he said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Agus, who replaced former finance minister Sri Mulyani last year following a Golkar-backed House inquiry into the Bank Century bail-out scandal, was critical of members of the House’s commission overseeing finance — including Golkar lawmakers — in their deliberation of the 2012 state budget.

Meanwhile, rumors were circulating on Wednesday that President Yudhoyono was reportedly suffering from heart disease and was admitted to the Binawaluya hospital in Ciracas, East Jakarta, last Friday.

Sinar Harapan reported on Wednesday that doctors had performed surgery on the president’s heart on Friday afternoon.

A cleaner confirmed SBY’s visit to the hospital, saying that SBY was escorted by dozens of guards and entered the hospital by the back door. “He left at 10 p.m.,” the man who refused to be named said.

Julian said that the information was totally incorrect.

“It is not true. The President is in a healthy condition and has never suffered from any heart disorder.”

Heru Lelono, the president’s special staff agreed with Julian, saying that the rumor about the president’s illness had spread since last Saturday. “It is not true. The President was still on duty and on Saturday he invited all special staff to his residence in Cikeas,” Heru said.