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Jokowi eyes stability, smooth transition in cabinet reshuffle
Analysts have suggested that Jokowi’s cabinet shake-up is part of an effort to consolidate power in his final year in office, particularly given concerns about cracks having formed in the cabinet before the election.
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Hadi Tjahjanto (second left) and Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (right) take their oath during their inauguration as the new coordinating political, legal and security affairs minister and agrarian and spatial planning minister, respectively, at the State Palace in Jakarta on Feb. 21, 2024. President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo appoints Hadi to fill the position left by Mahfud MD, who resigned to campaign as vice presidential candidate in the 2024 general election, and Agus to replace Hadi for the remainder of Jokowi's presidential term. (Antara/Hafidz Mubarak A)
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo promoted one of his loyalists to a senior cabinet post on Wednesday and welcomed a former opposition leader into his administration, moves analysts say are aimed at consolidating power in Jokowi’s final months in office to afford the outgoing leader a soft landing and the next government a smooth transition.
At a ceremony at the Presidential Palace, Hadi Tjahjanto, a long-time Jokowi ally who formerly served as the agrarian and spatial planning minister, was sworn in as the coordinating political, legal and security affairs minister.
Hadi had served as the commander of the Indonesian Military (TNI) for a record four years before joining the cabinet as minister in 2022. His connection with the President goes back to when he was appointed commander of Adi Soemarmo Air Force base in Surakarta, Central Java, in 2010, while Jokowi was serving as the city’s mayor.
The coordinating minister position had been left vacant for about three weeks after Mahfud MD, the running mate of presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo from Jokowi’s own party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), resigned from the cabinet to run for VP and in protest of the President’s alleged lack of impartiality in the election.
Relations between Jokowi and the PDI-P deteriorated after the incumbent started implicitly endorsing rival candidate Prabowo Subianto, even letting his son Gibran Rakabuming Raka become the defense minister’s running mate despite a controversial legal intervention.
Read also: Jokowi begins post-election maneuvering
Meanwhile, replacing Hadi at the Agrarian and Spatial Planning Ministry is Democratic Party chairman Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, whose party was previously very critical of Jokowi’s policies, including the Job Creation Law and the relocation of the capital city.
