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Former foes Agus and Moeldoko now cabinet comrades
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Making nice: Agrarian and Spatial Planning Minister Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono shakes hands with Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko ahead of a cabinet meeting at the State Palace on Feb. 26, 2024. (Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)
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ttending his first cabinet meeting as minister on Monday, Democratic Party chair Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono sat on the same side of the fence as Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko in the first public meeting between the two since Moeldoko attempted to oust Agus as leader of the Democrats in 2021.
After spending nearly a decade at the forefront of the country’s largest opposition party and surviving leadership challenges posed by Moeldoko, Agus was named the new agrarian and spatial planning minister last week.
The cabinet position signals the Democratic Party’s alignment with the Gerindra Party-led alliance supporting presumptive president-elect Prabowo Subianto, who ran alongside President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's son Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
Ahead of the Monday cabinet meeting, which was held to discuss state preparations for Ramadan, Agus and Moeldoko shook each other’s hands in front of the media with smiles on their faces and waved to the cameras.
“I came to introduce myself and keep in touch with all the ministers of the cabinet because we are all colleagues here,” Agus said ahead of the meeting. “We are all partners here. I must know and build good relationships with each of them.”
When asked after the meeting whether he had cleared the air with Moeldoko, Agus laughed and said, “Our ties are all right.”
Agus also expressed his willingness to work with Moeldoko, a message echoed by his former foe.
