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Jokowi opens Cabinet door to opposition
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Gerindra Party patron Prabowo Subianto (left) and President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo pose for selfies at the State palace on Friday (JP/Seto Wardhana)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo brought the horse-trading over seats in his next Cabinet into his own office over the past two days as he signaled his openness to allow erstwhile opposition leaders into his coalition during his second and final term in office.
In the latest high-profile event on Friday, Jokowi welcomed Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto ─ his challenger in the April election ─ to the State Palace in a meeting that the latter said had been initiated by the President himself.
The two bigwigs were seen smiling and even taking a selfie together after they spoke to the press together and confirmed that one of the topics during the discussion was the possibility of bringing Gerindra into the government coalition.
“It is not yet final, but we have discussed a lot about the possibility of welcoming the Gerindra Party into our coalition,” Jokowi said after the meeting.
The meeting came only a day after Jokowi welcomed Democratic Party patron and former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to the palace on Thursday, during which the two also talked about a possible place for the Dems in Jokowi’s upcoming Cabinet.
After both meetings, however, Jokowi maintained that nothing had been finalized during the talk with Yudhoyono and Prabowo when asked whether the Dems or Gerindra had proposed names of ministerial candidates from their respective parties.
The political jockeying comes a week before Jokowi and running mate Ma’ruf Amin are due to be sworn in as president and vice president, respectively, after which the President is expected to announce the lineup of his new Cabinet.
