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Prabowo coalition downplays Jokowi’s lingering influence over ministers
Members of the ruling Onward Indonesia Coalition (KIM) have dismissed concerns of Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s lingering influence over the administration of Prabowo Subianto after some incumbent ministers called the former president their boss.
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President Prabowo Subianto (center) and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka (third right) greet Red and White Cabinet ministers on Dec. 2, 2024, before a plenary cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta. (Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)
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embers of the ruling Onward Indonesia Coalition (KIM) have dismissed concerns of Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s lingering influence over some of President Prabowo Subianto’s ministers following their occasional display of loyalty to the former president.
In two separate occasions on Friday, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono and Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin visited Jokowi at his house in Surakarta, Central Java as part of the Idul Fitri tradition of extending communal bonds, also known as silaturahmi.
Sakti and Budi were among 14 Jokowi administration ministers who retained their positions when Prabowo assumed the presidency in October of last year. They were first appointed as ministers by Jokowi in December 2020 during his second, final term as president.
When asked about the purpose of his visit, Sakti told reporters that he was doing silaturahmi “with my former boss, who is still my boss now”. Echoing Sakti, Budi also told the media that he visited Jokowi because the former president was “his boss”.
At the time of the visits, Prabowo had just started his five-country tour to the Middle East.
Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Pratikno and Cooperatives Minister Budi Arie Setiadi, who are known as Jokowi loyalists, and Coordinating Food Minister Zulkifli Hasan and Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia, politicians from Prabowo’s coalition, also visited Jokowi over the Idul Fitri holiday. Like Sakti and Budi, they were all also former members of Jokowi’s cabinet.
Their visits sparked criticism from Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) executive Mardani Ali Sera, who said that it was fine to visit a former president but that it was important for cabinet members to remember that there should not be two captains in one boat.
