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Jokowi installs NU prominent figure as Social Affairs Minister
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo named on Wednesday Saifullah Yusuf, the secretary general of the nation’s largest Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), to replace Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini, known as Risma, who resigned to focus on campaigning for the November regional election.
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The Nahdlatul Ulama central executive board’s (PBNU) secretary-general Saifullah Yusuf poses before being inaugurated as social affairs minister by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo at the State Palace in Jakarta on Sept. 11, 2024. Saifullah replaces Tri Rismaharini who resigned after her nomination as a gubernatorial candidate in East Java. (Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)
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resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo named on Wednesday Saifullah Yusuf, the secretary-general of the nation’s largest Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), to replace former social affairs minister Tri Rismaharini, known as Risma, who resigned to focus on campaigning for the November regional election.
Two ministers, Risma and Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, who are both card-carrying members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), have officially resigned from their respective posts to focus on their gubernatorial bids in East Java and Jakarta, respectively.
Their resignations came after President Jokowi removed another two ministers aligned with the PDI-P, Yasona Laoly and Arifin Tasrif, from their respective positions as law and human rights minister as well as mineral resources minister.
Coordinator of President Jokowi's special aides Ari Dwipayana said previously that the President had issued a presidential decree (Keppres) on the honorable dismissal of Risma as social affairs minister, following her resignation.
“The resignation is related to her nomination and registration as a candidate for East Java governor”, he said on Friday.
The PDI-P had been Jokowi’s political vehicle for approximately two decades, but he parted ways with the party after he tacitly endorsed the Gerindra Party’s chairman Prabowo Subianto as his successor and allowed his eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka to become Prabowo’s running mate in February’s presidential election. They competed against the PDI-P’s candidate Ganjar Pranowo, in addition to outspoken government critic Anies Baswedan.
Syaifullah, known as Gus Ipul, has been vocal in his criticism of Muhaimin Iskandar, the chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB), who faced a leadership challenge particularly after he decided to run alongside Anies in February’s election. The PKB is a member of the current and next ruling coalition.
The NU has historically been an incubator for the PKB, but the two institutions have seen their relationship become strained multiple times in recent years, including during an NU leadership race in 2021 in which Yahya Cholil Staquf triumphed over incumbent Said Aqil Siradj, a close ally of Muhaimin.
In Wednesday's ceremony at the State Palace, Jokowi also named Insp. Gen. Eddy Hartono as head of the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) and Aida Suwandi Budiman as commissioner of the Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS). (yer)
