President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s fiery speech in a recent meeting with members of his Cabinet, which was circulated on Sunday, appears to be a sign of his frustration at the lack of progress in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and a threat that he will reshuffle his ministerial team if no progress is made in the effort.

Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko said on Monday that prior to delivering the speech on June 18, in which he threatened to replace ministers who failed to deliver results in the COVID-19 fight and disband government agencies, President Jokowi had issued frequent warnings to Cabinet members whom he considered were not doing enough in dealing with the pandemic and its economic impacts.

“The President is concerned that his aides think that this is a normal situation. They [ministers] need to be reminded, and the last [warning] was the latest among many,” Moeldoko told reporters on Monday.

Moeldoko said that among many issues that Jokowi was most concerned about were health care and the delivery of social aid.

In a video released on Sunday by the President’s press office, Jokowi delivered an uncharacteristically angry speech, saying that he would resort to a Cabinet-shakeup, disband government agencies or issue another regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) if ministers failed to effectively deal with the pandemic and its economic impact. The video was a recording of a closed-doors Cabinet meeting on June 18, the first to be arranged during the pandemic with health protocols in place.

“I will take any extraordinary steps for our 267 million citizens. These could be disbanding institutions, or it could be a [Cabinet] reshuffle, I have thought of many options,” Jokowi said in the speech.

Jokowi urged members of his Cabinet to go the extra mile in the effort to accelerate the implementation of several policies, specifically mentioning the government’s social aid program as well as financial incentives for the country’s health workers, as he highlighted the slow disbursement of the government’s COVID-19 response budget.

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