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Analysis: Prabowo opts for military discipline in preparing his cabinet
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This handout picture President Prabowo Subianto shaking hands with a cadet during a visit to the military academy, where he is having a retreat with his cabinet ministers, in Magelang, Central Java. (AFP/Gerindra Party) (AFP/Gerindra Party)
F
ollowing their inauguration, members of President Prabowo Subianto’s Red and White Cabinet joined a boot camp at the Military Academy in Magelang, Central Java, which was aimed at building a team spirit before they started working together. It was claimed the retreat was important to create a shared understanding among the plus-size cabinet to stay in tune with Prabowo’s governing vision.
The program was mandatory for all of Prabowo’s cabinet members, including ministers, deputy ministers, heads of government bodies, presidential advisors, special envoys and special staff, even though they had attended an orientation program at Prabowo’s residence in Hambalang, Bogor, West Java, prior to their inauguration.
During the three-day boot camp from Oct. 25 to 27 in Magelang, all the cabinet members took part in physical activities such as marching and outdoor activities, and attending public lectures, all held under a tight schedule and discipline.
Central Java, where Magelang is located, is a major electoral battlefield with the third-highest number of voters after West Java and East Java up for grabs. In the February presidential race Prabowo, with full support of his predecessor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, won 12 million votes to convincingly beat Ganjar Pranowo (7 million votes), who was a former Central Java governor, and Anies Baswedan (2 million votes).
The upcoming gubernatorial election on Nov. 27 will test Prabowo’s political clout in Central Java as his Gerindra Party candidate Ahmad Luthfi, a former Central Java Police chief, will square off against former Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Andhika Perkasa, who is running on an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) ticket, the dominant force in the province.
Prabowo utilized the cabinet retreat to drill several core points of his governance, such as nationalism, his priority programs of food security and energy self-sufficiency, as well as the continuation of the downstreaming of natural resources.
Moreover, he also emphasized that all cabinet members should pledge loyalty to the state, rather than him.
