President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo engaged in an expected meeting with Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto a day after taking the oath for his second term, even as he was keeping silent on the highly awaited Cabinet lineup.

Jokowi had said on Sunday that he would introduce his ministers on Monday morning, but instead he summoned several high-profile figures — including professionals Nadiem Makarim, Wishnutama and Erick Thohir — to the State Palace.

Prabowo, who went to the State Palace on Monday afternoon along with Gerindra deputy chairman Edhy Prabowo, confirmed that Jokowi asked him to strengthen his Cabinet.

“[The President] officially asked us to help him in the Cabinet and we agreed,” the two-time presidential candidate told reporters after the meeting.

“He allowed me to say that he asked me to help him in the defense sector. I will work as hard as I can to reach the targets.”

When asked how many ministers from Gerindra would be joining the Cabinet, Prabowo lightly answered: “Two were summoned, so what do you think?”

He added that Jokowi would make the final announcement on Wednesday.

Edhy was also in the running for a ministerial post as proposed by Gerindra, should Jokowi decide to include the party in the Cabinet.

Prabowo ran against Jokowi in the 2019 presidential election, which ended with the former’s defeat after Jokowi and running mate Ma’ruf Amin secured 85 million, 55.5 percent, of the votes. It was the second time Jokowi beat Prabowo. Their first rivalry took place in the 2014 presidential election.

For the past five years Prabowo has led the main opposition party and had been a staunch critic of Jokowi’s administration.

A week before inauguration on Sunday, Gerindra gave out strong hints that it would join the coalition supporting the Jokowi administration. Prabowo took part in a marathon of meetings with the heads of the political parties in the coalition in what experts called a move to seek their blessings.

The news on Sunday that confirmed Jokowi would accept Gerindra into his Cabinet came as a disappointment for a volunteer group that supported the incumbent during the 2019 presidential election.

“We’re actually a little disappointed because people like me in particular had to go head-to-head with [opposition] supporters on the ground,” said Immanuel Ebenezer, the chairman of the Jokowi Mania volunteer group on Sunday after a meeting with the President.

“But this is the President’s choice. We won’t wallow in disappointment because, whatever the President does, he has his own considerations: political considerations as well as considerations to unite this nation in the future,” he said.

Besides Prabowo and Edhy, among other people who went to the palace was former Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud MD, who confirmed that he had been tapped to be a minister.

“The inauguration will take place on Wednesday morning. I told him I’m ready to accept the offer,” Mahfud told journalists after the meeting.

Nadiem, the founder of homegrown unicorn Gojek, Wishnutama, a television veteran, Erick, a media tycoon, and Golkar Party chairman Airlangga Hartarto also made appearances at the palace. All expressed their readiness to serve as Jokowi’s ministers.

Speaking after the meeting, Nadiem said it was an honorable occasion for him to be invited into Jokowi’s Cabinet, while also declining to specify which ministerial post he expected to take.

“This is an honor for me to be invited to the President’s Cabinet. He handed me this responsibility and I accepted it,” said Nadiem, adding that he talked with Jokowi about the latter’s vision and mission to move the country forward, particularly on human capital development, bureaucratic reform and boosting investments in the country.

Wishnutama also declined to specify which position Jokowi asked him to fill, saying that among his duties would be to upgrade Indonesia’s competitiveness in the “creative” sector to be able to compete on the international stage.

Airlangga, meanwhile, said he and Jokowi talked about the economic challenges that the country faced, including how to reduce the trade deficit and develop Indonesia’s economic zones to spur industrial development in the country.

“With regard to reducing the trade deficit, the President has requested I look for products that could solve the deficit, including products that could reduce non-oil and gas imports, which were linked to how [to develop] import-substitution products,” said Airlangga.

Erick, a long-time businessman who had no previous experience in government, said it was “tough” for him to again leave his responsibilities in the Mahaka Group, considering he already left the company when he took charge of the Asian Games and when he spearheaded Jokowi’s campaign team.

Johnny G. Plate, secretary-general the Nasdem Party, of one of the parties in Jokowi’s coalition, said the party might take a position against the government if no party would act as the opposition.

“If there’s no one criticizing the government’s decisions, what will become of this country? In this position, NasDem will become the constructive critics against the government,” Johnny said on Monday.

The secretary-general of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Hasto Kristiyanto, said Jokowi would continue his meetings on Tuesday before the final announcement on Wednesday.

He claimed that the PDI-P would get the most ministerial posts and the people had been decided.

A political researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Noory Okthariza, said Jokowi’s decision to accept Gerindra into his second-term administration was in contrast with his inauguration speech a day earlier.

“Apart from his supporting political parties, Jokowi now has to accommodate the interests of his opposition. This forces him to create new positions for these many parties, including deputy ministers. This is a paradox from his inauguration speech when he said he would simplify bureaucracy,” Noory said.

While he took the oath of office at the House of Representatives compound on Sunday, Jokowi said that among his second term initiatives would be to cut the civil service echelons from four to two.

The increase in the number of deputy ministers had been revealed earlier by former presidential expert staff member Ali Mochtar Ngabalin, who said deputy ministers would do technical jobs in several ministries. He, however, refused to mention the exact number of deputy ministers in the upcoming Cabinet.

University of Indonesia rector and senior economist Arie Kuncoro said the new economic team should be able to solve the trade deficit issue by boosting national productivity and pushing domestic industries to be connected in the global supply chain.

“The solution to the country’s economic problems can be found through innovations such as what Nadiem has done at Gojek by combining information technology with ojek [motorcycle taxis] and what Erick has done by seeking investment opportunities internationally,” said Arie.

Popular

RI, Australia strengthen partnership on taxing crypto assets

Analysis: Indonesia denies normalization with Israel to enter OECD

Citroen to produce electric cars in Indonesia