T

he transition team of president-elect Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo held a meeting on Tuesday with Vice President Boediono to discuss plans to modify some of the programs already being carried out by the outgoing government.

Speaking after the meeting, transition team deputy Andi Widjajanto said that the team consulted Boediono to hear his views about Jokowi'€™s plan to change the structure of the presidential institution. The team is currently working on a list of institutions under the presidential office.

To further discuss the plan, the team plans to have a follow-up meeting with Dewi Fortuna Anwar, the deputy for political affairs to Boediono.

In the meeting with Boediono, the transition team also discussed possible plans to modify major programs initiated by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, including the wide-ranging Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesian Economic Development (MP3EI).

'€œOf course there will be modification to the MP3EI,'€ Andi said. '€œ[We will modify the master plan] by considering input from environmental activists. We will aim for infrastructure development that is not solely dedicated to economic development, but also takes into account people and the environment.'€

Jokowi has publicly stated his intention to make some alterations to the development of infrastructure projects in Indonesia, having pledged to pursue maritime-focused economic development in the archipelagic country of more than 16,000 islands.

Jokowi has come up with an idea to provide regular freight ships to serve major cities from the west to the east of the country, a concept he has dubbed a '€œsea toll'€.

'€œBoediono asked us to follow up on the idea with the Transportation Ministry to collect data and information on the concept of Pendulum Nusantara, which could be followed up with the sea-highway initiative by Jokowi,'€ Andi said.

Pendulum Nusantara is a program by state-owned port operator Pelindo II to connect six main ports '€” Belawan in North Sumatra; Batam in Riau Islands; Tanjung Priok in Jakarta; Tanjung Perak in East Java; Makassar in South Sulawesi; and Sorong in West Papua.

The sea-highway initiative, meanwhile, is aimed at connecting five major cities '€” Medan in North Sumatra, Jakarta, Surabaya in East Java, Makassar in South Sulawesi and Sorong in West Papua.

The meeting also touched on some thorny macroeconomic issues.

'€œWe also talked about macroeconomics. And Pak Boediono gave direction on priorities for the state budget plan [RAPBN] for 2015,'€ Andi said. '€œHe spoke about which items could be included in the revised state budget [APBN-P] for 2015, because all political processes for the deliberation of the state budget need to be finished by Sept. 23'€.

The meeting, however, did not cover the contentious issue of raising fuel prices.

Jokowi, vice president-elect Jusuf Kalla and their transition team have previously said that they are ready to reduce subsidies and raise fuel prices by between Rp 500 (4 US cents) and Rp 3,000 per liter.

Transition team head Rini Mariani Soemarno said the team is currently weighing up the options it has.

'€œIf we want to raise fuel prices, then it means that we have to divert [the subsidy] to programs that will be beneficial to people from the lower class,'€ Rini said.

She said that the team is currently collecting data on poor families eligible for social safety programs.

'€œThis is our priority. Can we provide a social safety net for poor people, before reducing fuel price subsidies,'€ Rini said, adding that the analysis should be ready by the end of September.

Spokesman for Boediono, Yopie Hidayat, said that the Vice President told the transition team that it would not be wise to insert any of Jokowi'€™s programs into the 2015 state budget.

'€œThe drafting process is almost finished,'€ he said.