The government has for some time been laying down the legal foundations for the appointment of more deputy ministers, but speculation has grown in recent days that a larger-scale reshuffle is in the works.

Palace insiders have not denied the rumors, while noting that it was Jokowi’s prerogative to appoint or dismiss ministers. The President himself told reporters “not yet” when asked last week if he was planning to shake up the Cabinet.

But a politician from the ruling coalition corroborated the possibility of a Cabinet shake-up for Wednesday.

“We heard very solid information that it is very likely that a reshuffle will be carried out,” National Mandate Party (PAN) executive and Bogor Mayor Bima Arya told reporters on Tuesday.

As the newest member of the ruling coalition, PAN is rumored to be next in line to get a Cabinet position, although Bima did not address this.

Meanwhile, a number of ministers were seen coming and going at the palace from Tuesday afternoon until late that evening, including Agriculture Minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo and Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar, both Nasdem Party members.

Information on prominent guests was shared with journalists as their movement within the palace grounds was restricted.

Asked about the possibility of being replaced, Syahrul claimed he had not discussed it and had only talked about issues related to food, including rice exports.

“I'm just working […] as much as I can and as hard as I can,” he told reporters while leaving the palace.

Siti left the palace a while after Syahrul and went directly to her car without giving any comments.

Separately, NasDem executive Willy Aditya told The Jakarta Post that party chairman Surya Paloh had dropped by the Presidential Palace as well.

Later that day, Defense Minister and Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto was seen leaving the palace, followed by former Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. (ret) Hadi Tjahjanto, Agriculture Minister Sofyan Djalil and his deputy Surya Tjandra. None of these figures confirmed the reshuffle, according to media reports.

Other ministers seen leaving the palace grounds included Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi, who was among those rumored to be slated for replacement over a recent controversy surrounding a national cooking oil shortage and price hike.

Ujang Komarudin, a political analyst at the Indonesia Political Review think tank, said that aside from accommodating PAN in the executive, the reshuffle was likely to bring fresh faces to Jokowi’s economic team.

“It is only reasonable that Lutfi might be replaced, as his performance was perceived as poor and there was much public criticism, some of which was related to the handling of the cooking oil debacle,” Ujang said on Tuesday.

Jokowi’s last Cabinet shake-up occurred in April of last year, when he announced that Bahlil Lahadalia, who at the time was head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BPKM), would head the newly created Investment Ministry.

The President also expanded the duties of Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim, combining his ministry with the Research and Technology Ministry headed by Bambang Brodjonegoro, who was leaving the Cabinet.

Meanwhile, the authority to oversee research was granted to the newly formed National Research Agency (BRIN), headed by Laksana Tri Handoko.

Prior to that, Jokowi had swapped out members of his Cabinet in December 2020, with the introduction of six ministers and five deputy ministers.

In his first presidential term, Jokowi ordered a total of four Cabinet shake-ups.

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