Newly inaugurated Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister Syafruddin has promised to focus on the remaining year of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration to fulfill the targets of the ministry’s programs.

The former National Police deputy chief was inaugurated on Wednesday, replacing National Mandate Party (PAN) politician Asman Abnur, who resigned from the Cabinet following PAN’s decision to join the opposition coalition challenging Jokowi’s reelection bid in the 2019 election.

Syafruddin said his priority as the new minister was to continue the programs that had been designed by his predecessor.

“We [the ministry] will work fast to complete the programs since we have only about one year left [under Jokowi’s administration],” Syafruddin said after his inauguration ceremony, adding that the President himself had ordered him to continue where Asman left off to meet the targets.

“Asman had such good performance that his programs have progressed positively and were appreciated by all ministries and state institutions,” Syafruddin said. “We just need to maintain the progress.”

Syafruddin’s nomination was already rife on Tuesday right after Asman’s resignation announcement, which cited a “dilemma” surfacing from PAN’s decision to leave Jokowi’s coalition. PAN has instead decided to throw its support behind Jokowi’s presidential election contender, Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto.

On Tuesday evening, Syafruddin was summoned by Jokowi to a meeting at Bogor Palace, during which he was informed by Jokowi himself that he had appointed him as the new minister — a decision Syafruddin described as a surprise.

Syarifuddin claimed he had never expected to get the job.

After the meeting, he tendered his resignation from the police force to National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian.

“I was a civilian when I was inaugurated [as the new minister on Wednesday],” Syafruddin said.

The appointment of a Cabinet minister is indeed the President’s prerogative. But the reason behind his decision over Syafruddin’s appointment remains unclear, with Jokowi’s aides, such as State Secretary Pratikno and Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, refusing to give details.

Prior to serving as Tito’s deputy, Syafruddin served as the head of the National Police’s education and training division (Kalemdikpol) in 2015. He had also served as South Kalimantan Police chief and North Sumatra Police deputy chief.

Syafruddin is also known for his close ties with Vice President Jusuf Kalla. Syafruddin was Kalla’s adjutant in 2004 when Kalla served his first vice presidential tenure under former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Syafruddin is also the deputy chairman of the Indonesian Mosques Council (DMI), of which Kalla is the chairman.

Under Jokowi’s administration, Syafruddin is the third official tasked with leading the ministry, which covers practically more than 4.3 million civil servants across the country.

His predecessor included Hanura Party politician Yuddy Chrisnandi, who was replaced by Asman in July 2016.

Syafruddin said he would also focus on completing the 2018 civil service recruitment, which was initially targeted by Asman to start sometime this month after the ministry finalizes the details of allocation for each institution.

The ministry has been planning to recruit 220,000 new civil servants this year to replace those who are set to retire, after almost four years of a recruitment moratorium imposed under Jokowi’s administration.

Asman said he expected Syafruddin to improve the quality of civil service to cater to the growing public’s demand for more responsive public service.

“The recruitment of civil servants is now done through an online system, which is free from corruption and nepotism,” Asman said. “I hope that [Syafruddin] can further continue to improve it [the recruitment system].”

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