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Jokowi adds new deputy presidential chief of staff position
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has added more positions in the Presidential Office (KSP), one of which is a deputy chief position to handle half of the chief workload.
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Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko (left) and National Development Planning Minister Suharso Monoarfa talk during a Cabinet plenary meeting at the Executive Office of the President in Jakarta on Thursday, Oct.14, 2019. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has added more positions to the Executive Office of the President, including a deputy chief position to help alleviate the workload of current Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko.
To kick off a recruitment process to fill the new positions, Jokowi issued on Dec. 18 Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No. 83/2019, which would allow the presidential chief of staff to appoint a deputy and no more than five expert staff members.
Previously, the presidential chief of staff could appoint no more than three expert staff members.
Article 6 of the regulation stipulates “the Presidential Chief of Staff and the Deputy Chief are an integral part of Executive Office of the President leadership”.
Many have speculated that the opening of the new positions was part of Jokowi's plan to hire allies of his, especially those from the Crescent Star Party (PBB) and the Hanura Party for plum jobs in his administration.
In assembling his second-term Cabinet, President Jokowi has made efforts to include all parties in his ruling coalition, even reaching out beyond his political base to include his former rival in the 2019 presidential election, Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto, and the party's deputy chairman, Edhy Prabowo, who serve respectively as defense minister and maritime affairs and fisheries minister.
Both the PBB and Hanura failed to get any seats in the House of Representatives for the 2019-2024 term as their votes were below the minimum parliamentary threshold of 4 percent set in the 2017 Elections Law.
