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The more, the merrier: Prabowo’s coalition backs plan for bigger cabinet
Members of president-elect Prabowo Subianto's coalition argue that more ministerial posts are necessary to help his administration hit the ground running.
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A vendor arranges the official portraits of president-elect Prabowo Subianto (left) and vice president-elect Gibran Rakabuming Raka on April 23, 2024, at his kiosk in Pasar Baru, Central Jakarta. (Antara/Muhammad Adimaja)
M
embers of the party coalition supporting Prabowo Subianto have thrown their weight behind the idea of forming several new ministries in his upcoming administration, as the president-elect works to decide the makeup of his cabinet.
Amid ongoing discussions among coalition parties on the allocation of cabinet positions, a proposal to increase the number of ministers has been gaining traction.
Prabowo’s coalition previously consisted of four parties with seats in the incoming legislature: his own Gerindra party, the Golkar Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Democratic Party, but the president-elect recently welcomed two new additions to the fold, the NasDem Party and the National Awakening Party (PKB), which both backed rival candidate Anies Baswedan in the February presidential election.
During his two terms as president, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has maintained 34 ministerial posts, in keeping with the 2008 Ministry Law, which places limits on the number of ministries in the presidential cabinet.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Gerindra executive Habiburokhman said that adding new cabinet ministries would help the country address its many issues.
“We’re a big country with big challenges and big targets,” he said, as quoted by Antara. “It’s only reasonable that we need a lot of people in the government.”
Habiburokhman dismissed concerns that a larger cabinet would only be geared toward accommodating the demands of political party leaders in the coalition for representation and said the final decision would rest with the president-elect.
