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Prabowo in early bind as backers vie for spoils
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President-elect Prabowo Subianto (left) and vice president-elect Gibran Rakabuming Raka gesture on April 24, 2024, as they arrive at a General Elections Commission (KPU) plenary meeting on the 2024 presidential election results in Jakarta. (AFP/Adek Berry)
P
resident-elect Prabowo Subianto is facing among the first challenges of his office to-be as he seeks to form an effective government amid jostling for strategic cabinet posts within his big-tent alliance.
Prabowo, who will be inaugurated in October along with vice president-elect Gibran Rakabuming Raka, is engaged in negotiations with leaders of political parties in his ever-growing coalition over the composition of his incoming cabinet.
Prabowo is reportedly also looking into adding new ministerial posts to his government, an idea that rivals say is simply a means of accommodating his allies with little regard for effective governance.
Political analyst Ujang Komarudin said political parties would likely use the pre-transition period to intensify their lobbying to secure strategic cabinet posts that could be used to expand their political clout.
“Parties will try their best to get the best deal, which are ministerial posts that have huge budget allocations and offices across the country down to the district level,” Ujang told The Jakarta Post.
The most sought-after ministerial posts include environment and forestry minister, agrarian and spatial planning minister, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) minister and energy and mineral resources minister.
These cabinet posts are widely known as lahan basah (fertile land), a term for institutions that oversee major projects with significant budget allocations, a mixture that has bred corruption and extortion in the past.
