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View all search results'Foreign agents' of change: Experts launch shadow cabinet
Members said the initiative was born out of frustration that public concerns increasingly had nowhere to go, with the House of Representatives, dominated by Prabowo’s ruling coalition, showing little appetite for challenging the executive.
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Eleven of the shadow cabinet's 15 members gather for their first working meeting in Jakarta on Monday following the launch of the self-styled watchdog initiative. (Courtesy of /The Shadow Cabinet)
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far cry from the marbled halls of the State Palace, familiar faces gathered at a modest coworking space in Cikini, Central Jakarta, earlier this week, animatedly discussing the country’s future.
But unlike the ministers across town, these academics and civil society figures had gathered not to govern, but to scrutinize.
“This may be like the Avengers of CSOs,” joked scholar Ahmad Jilul Qur’ani Farid, drawing laughter and nods of agreement from the audience.
The group unveiled on Monday what it called Indonesia’s first self-styled shadow cabinet, assembled to provide the checks and balances its members believe have steadily eroded under President Prabowo Subianto’s administration.
Its 15-member lineup, comprising economists, legal experts, researchers and activists, each shadows one or several ministries in the cabinet. Eleven members attended Monday’s launch.
Unlike parliamentary democracies, where opposition parties routinely appoint shadow ministers to scrutinize government policies, Indonesia’s presidential system has never formally adopted such a mechanism.
Read also: Legal activist Feri Amsari's lonely battle for constitutionalism
