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Jokowi’s Cabinet overhaul gets business thumb up
As part of the Cabinet overhaul plan, the Trade Ministry will, for example, be merged with the Industry Ministry to focus on domestic trade and industrial affairs
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President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, dressed in golden attire with a black and gold sarong and traditional headband from West Nusa Tenggara, delivers his State of the Nation address at the House of Representatives complex in Jakarta on Friday. Jokowi said last week that he planned to overhaul the Cabinet to ensure his economic program in second term can be carried out more effectively. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
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hile voicing their support for President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s plan to shake up ministerial structures as part of his second-term bureaucratic reforms, businesses and analysts have said that more could be done to further support efforts to revitalize the economy.
In a recent meeting with chief editors, including The Jakarta Post’s, Jokowi unveiled some of his plans to merge ministries and establish a new ministry, a new investment ministry that will supervise the Investment Coordinating Board’s (BKPM) effort to attract investment.
The Trade Ministry will, for example, be merged with the Industry Ministry to focus on domestic trade and industrial affairs, while the former’s international trade role will be carried out under the Foreign Ministry in a push to boost export performance.
Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko said the shakeup would reinforce Jokowi’s policy priorities, such as improving exports and investment figures to combat the deficit in the current account, as well as upgrading Indonesia’s competitiveness through investment in human capital.
“This kind of approach is in the mind of [President Jokowi], so there will be changes in the structure [of ministries],” said Moeldoko in Jakarta last week, adding that the Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry had created the formula for new ministerial structures and had already presented it to Jokowi.
While such a move was welcomed, the government could step up inter-ministerial coordination in order to ensure the effectiveness of the shakeup, businesspeople have said.
Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) vice chairwoman Shinta Kamdani said improving coordination among ministries was vital in order to bring the ministries in line with Jokowi’s economic agenda, which is to boost exports and encourage investment, adding that a further directive from the President was also important to ensure that the government carried out its functions in an effective manner.
