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Interim foreign minister appointment raises eyebrows
The appointment of a caretaker minister while Retno is overseas has fed into last week's speculation over a rumor that some ministers are planning to quit the cabinet.
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Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi holds up an earphone prior to a situation meeting on the Gaza Strip on Dec. 12, 2023 at the United Nations Office at Geneva, on the sidelines of a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (AFP/Fabrice Coffrini)
T
he brief appointment of Communications and Information Minister Budi Arie Setiadi as interim foreign minister has raised eyebrows amid reports of a cabinet split, even though the Foreign Ministry has waved off the issue and President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has insisted that his government remains united.
Budi is to serve in the interim post from Jan. 21 to 22, when Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi is attending the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting on Gaza at the UN headquarters in New York.
The Foreign Ministry said appointing a caretaker at such times was standard protocol.
“This is an ordinary thing in the government when a minister is not in Indonesia. [Retno] herself has been an interim minister many times,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lalu Muhamad Iqbal said on Sunday.
For example, Iqbal said, Home Minister Tito Karavan was appointed as interim foreign minister for around one week during Retno’s Africa tour last year.
The foreign minister is currently in New York for the UNSC meeting. At the end of the month, she is scheduled to attend an ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Laos.
Over the weekend, Deputy Foreign Minister Pahala Mansury has been leading the Indonesian delegation at the 19th Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) Summit in Kampala, Uganda, to promote the Palestinian cause.
