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Paloh allows Jokowi to ax NasDem members
Pro-government NasDem Party chairman Surya Paloh has said he will submit to all decisions made by President Joko âJokowiâ Widodo in the upcoming ministerial reshuffle, including decisions to dismiss his party members from the Cabinet on account of poor performance
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ro-government NasDem Party chairman Surya Paloh has said he will submit to all decisions made by President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo in the upcoming ministerial reshuffle, including decisions to dismiss his party members from the Cabinet on account of poor performance.
The former Golkar Party politician and media mogul said that a Cabinet revamp was Jokowi's prerogative as the President and that no one could interfere with the process.
Jokowi, whose main political backer is the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), has granted one coordinating and two ministerial seats to NasDem.
NasDem executive Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno serves as the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister, while another two party politicians, Siti Nurbaya and Ferry Musyidan Baldan, took the helms at the Environment and Forestry Ministry and Agrarian and Spatial Planning Ministry, respectively.
'We will support any decision made [by the President] for the sake of this country,' Paloh said on Saturday as quoted by kompas.com.
Paloh also called on leaders of other pro-government parties, including the PDI-P, National Awakening Party (PKB) and Hanura Party, to take the same stance in regard to the Cabinet shake-up plan.
'If [the parties'] ministers are dismissed, then coalition partners should not be upset,' Paloh said.
A number of recent polls showed that the majority of the public wanted Jokowi to kick political figures from the current ministerial seats, with Tedjo high on the list as the one of the most disliked ministers due to his remarks on human rights and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
Tedjo attended an Idul Fitri gathering at Paloh's residence on July 17 but was left behind by the host, who preferred speaking with former Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. Moeldoko, who recently retired.
The four-star Army general has been touted as Tedjo's possible successor.
The President, however, refused to comment on his Cabinet reshuffle plan.
'We are here to talk about dams, so I won't talk about it [the reshuffle] now,' Jokowi told reporters in Kupang regency in East Nusa Tenggara, on Saturday.
Other ministers on the list of most disliked ministers are Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister Yuddy Chrisnandi and Industry Minister Saleh Husin of Hanura; Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Minister Marwan Jafar of PKB and Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Puan Maharani and Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna H. Laoly of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
Non-partisan ministers recommended for replacement were Coordinating Economic Minister Sofyan Djalil, Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Indroyono Susilo, Trade Minister Rachmat Gobel, Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman, State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno, National Development Planning Minister/National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) chief Andrinof Chaniago and Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan.
-JP/Haeril Halim
