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Prabowo treads carefully on reshuffle demands
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President Prabowo Subianto (front, center left) and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka (front, center right) pose with Rad and White Cabinet ministers in front of the State Palace in Jakarta on Oct. 21, 2024. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
P
resident Prabowo Subianto has cautiously responded to a set of demands from a group of retired Indonesian Military (TNI) officers, who called for the removal of ministers linked to his predecessor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and the replacement of Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, eldest son of the former president.
A group of retired military officers, under the banner of “Retired TNI Soldiers Forum”, issued a public statement last week as their response to the current political situation. The statement outlined eight key demands for the President, including the carrying out of a cabinet reshuffle to remove “corrupt ministers”.
They also called on Prabowo to take “strict action” against “state officials who are still tied to the interests of former president Jokowi”.
The group also proposed the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) replace Gibran, arguing that the Constitutional Court’s ruling that altered the age requirement for presidential and vice presidential candidates “violated [...] procedural law and the law on judicial power”. The court decision paved the way for Gibran to run alongside Prabowo in the 2024 presidential election.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Special Presidential Advisor on Political and Security Affairs Wiranto said that he discussed the group’s proposals with Prabowo.
Wiranto, who himself is a retired Army general and former TNI commander, said Prabowo respected and understood the perspectives shared by the fellow veterans. He added that the President would study carefully the demands, while emphasizing constitutional boundaries that need to be upheld.
“As a head of state and government, the President’s authority is not without limits,” Wiranto said. “There is a clear separation among the executive, legislative and judicial powers. They cannot interfere in each other’s domains.”
