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Jokowi needs ministers not dictated by personal interests: Wantimpres
Presidential Advisory Board (Wantimpres) member Sidarto Danusubroto said he had told President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo that the President needed ministers who were not driven by personal interests if he wanted to build public trust
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residential Advisory Board (Wantimpres) member Sidarto Danusubroto said he had told President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo that the President needed ministers who were not driven by personal interests if he wanted to build public trust.
Sidarto made the comment after him, along with Wantimpres head economist Sri Adiningsih, met with Jokowi in a closed-door discussion at the Presidential Palace on Monday, amid widespread speculation about an imminent Cabinet reshuffle.
"The Jokowi administration needs to build trust, am I correct? To build trust, ideally the President needs assistance from those who are not driven by their personal interests," Sidarto said referring to input he gave to Jokowi during the meeting.
The former People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) refused to reveal whether or not he, Sri and the President discussed the Cabinet reshuffle specifically.
"I didn't comment [on the reshuffle]. The point is that trust must exist [because] the economy is also about trust, either trust from the public in the country or outside the country," he added.
Sidarto also refused to say whether or not he perceived the existing Cabinet members, particularly the economic ministers, to have failed to build trust.
Last week, Jokowi sought input from a number of economists on how to improve the performance of his economic ministers who had been unable to ease the current economic slowdown.
Sri, who was proposed by PDI-P chairwoman Megawati, also refused to reveal whether a Cabinet reshuffle was on the table on Monday.
Calls for a Cabinet reshuffle have been made since April following a slump in Jokowi's popularity, much of which has been caused by the economic slowdown and his controversial decisions in the fight against corruption.(+++)
