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Jokowi orders seventh Cabinet reshuffle
Shake-up benefits President’s ruling coalition partners, claim political analysts.
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resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo welcomed two new ministers and three deputy ministers into his Cabinet in his seventh reshuffle in eight years, in what analysts believe is a bid to steady the ship for the remainder of his term.
More importantly, Jokowi used the opportunity to gather the leaders of his ruling coalition in a show of strength and unity, at a time when political parties have started making preparations to contest the 2024 general elections.
Wednesday’s brief introduction of new Cabinet members ended months of speculation, which began after the President brought the National Mandate Party (PAN) into his big-tent coalition, which now controls more than 80 percent of the seats in the House of Representatives.
Jokowi carried what many observers feel will be the last reconfiguration of his administration, replacing three members of the Cabinet and introducing three new deputy ministers – a more modest reshuffle than many had predicted.
Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi was sacked in favor of bringing in seasoned PAN chairman Zulkifli Hasan, after a tumultuous few months during which the former had to contend with soaring cooking oil prices and nationwide shortages that led to the arrest of Trade Ministry officials and palm oil businessmen allegedly involved in graft.
Zulkifli continues the trend of revolving-door trade minister appointments – he is the sixth to serve in that position since Jokowi first took office in 2014.
The President also sacked Agrarian and Spatial Planning Minister Sofyan Djalil, a close ally of former vice president Jusuf Kalla, and replaced him with a loyal supporter of his own, Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Air Chief Marshal (ret.) Hadi Tjahjanto. Hadi’s appointment mirrors that of Home Minister Tito Karnavian, who was brought in after retiring as National Police chief early on in Jokowi’s second term.
Surya Tjandra, Sofyan’s deputy at the ministry, was replaced by another Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) executive, Raja Juli Antoni. The PSI is a relatively new party that supports Jokowi but has no seats in the House.
Another of Jokowi’s political supporters, Afriansyah Noor, whose Crescent Star Party (PBB) also has no House seats, was inducted as deputy labor minister.
The President’s main political sponsor, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), gained another spot in the Cabinet, after Papuan native John Wempi Wetipo was made deputy home minister, a strategic position to hold ahead of the 2024 elections.
Other Cabinet members, including Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto, Agriculture Minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo and State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir, whose names had circulated in the rumor mill, retained their respective positions.
Political motive
Whispers of another reshuffle emerged after Jokowi instructed his ministers in April to be mindful of soaring prices of staple goods, to cultivate a sense of crisis and find ways to more clearly communicate policy changes. A month before that, the President’s approval ratings took a modest hit amid inflationary pressures exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said the reshuffle was carried out after careful consideration, stressing that the President needed to “refresh” some Cabinet members.
“With experience spanning the last eight years of his two terms, Jokowi fully understands the current problems, including those relating to cooking oil, food and energy,” Pramono said on Wednesday.
Jokowi told reporters after the inauguration ceremony that Zulkifli was brought in to oversee domestic goods supply, while Hadi had been tasked with resolving land disputes and oversee land acquisition for the new capital city project.
Analysts have noted that the choice of new Cabinet members reflects Jokowi’s political interests more than it does an effort to hire the people best suited for the job.
“The reshuffle leans more to the political than it does to the technocratic,” said Noory Okhtariza, a political researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), on Wednesday.
The latest reshuffle fulfills two purposes, he posited: to keep members of Jokowi’s coalition happy by rewarding them with positions in government; and to fill his Cabinet with loyalists. Evidence for the latter point could be seen, he said, in the decision to oust Sofyan and install Hadi.
“I’m certain Jokowi is trying to become a ‘kingmaker’ in the sense that he wants whoever will succeed him to have aligned political interests. That’s why he wants to expand his coalition; so he can stay on top of things,” Noory said.
Noory also said it would likely be the last reshuffle, noting how Jokowi pulled out all the stops to ensure his political standing remains strong with two years left of his term.
Similarly, political analyst Firman Noor of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) said the reshuffle was politically motivated rather than being based on the interests of the people.
“[With PAN] entering the coalition, Jokowi is just expanding his power. This is a waste of time, since there are better suited professionals with more experience that should have been appointed instead,” he said on Wednesday.
As a consequence of the expansion of his coalition, the reshuffle sacrificed those without strong political backing, Firman said. “Removing ministers with strong political backing would have had disastrous consequences for Jokowi and could risk loosening his grip on the coalition,” he added.
Prior to the inauguration of the new Cabinet members, Jokowi hosted Zulkifli and a raft of other senior political figures from his ruling coalition for lunch. Jokowi was seen walking to the inauguration flanked by the PAN chairman, PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto, Golkar chairman Airlangga, Nasdem Party chairman Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) chairman Muhaimin Iskandar and United Development Party (PPP) chairman Suharso Monoarfa.
Jokowi’s last Cabinet shake-up occurred in April of last year, when he expanded a number of ministry portfolios. 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 carried out a total of four Cabinet shake-ups.
