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View all search resultsAnalysis : Prabowo consolidates control over big tent coalition
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Stern beginnings: President Prabowo Subianto (center) addresses reporters on Monday after Danantara’s first town hall meeting at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) in Senayan, Central Jakarta. (JP/Ruth Dea Juwita) (JP/Ruth Dea Juwita)
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n the aftermath of the massive August anti-government riots, President Prabowo Subianto carried out two rounds of Cabinet reshuffles to consolidate power and control over his big-tent coalition government. The turmoil, which he described as bordering on treason, is the most serious challenge to his power since he took office in October last year.
Prabowo did not explain or provide evidence to support his claim of a hidden regime-change agenda, but the way he responded, including making changes to his Cabinet and giving more power to the Indonesian Military (TNI), shows the need for the former Army general to put his house in order and exert more control over his own government.
His coalition comprises not only seven of the eight political parties represented in the House of Representatives, which together control more than 80 percent of the seats, but also special interest groups, including the Indonesian Military (TNI), the National Police (Polri), and business and Islamic groups.
Another faction in the Cabinet that has no name but is recognized as the most important and powerful one is that of former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, the man Prabowo replaced in October 2024. Jokowi retains some control and influence through his son Gibran Rakabumining Raka, who is the vice president, and 16 of his ministers who were reappointed to Prabowo’s expansive Cabinet, which now comprises more than 100 ministers and vice ministers.
Five of the ministers replaced by Prabowo are carry-overs from the Jokowi administration.
Top of the list is Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Budi Gunawan, a retired police general who served as Jokowi’s chief of the State Intelligence Agency in 2019-2024. Budi, however, is seen more as a loyalist of Megawati Soekarnoputri, the chair of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), the only party in the House that is staying out of the coalition government, although it does not play the role of opposition either.
As the top minister in charge of security, Budi was conspicuously absent from all public appearances throughout the week of political turmoil. His position was given to 76-year-old Djamari Chaniago, a retired Army general.
