TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
PDI-P suggests Prabowo review cabinet performance after six months
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka (right) greets House of Representatives Speaker Puan Maharani (center) of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) on Oct. 22, 2024 at the State Palace in Jakarta as Coordinating Social Empowerment Minister Muhaimin Iskandar looks on, prior to a ceremony to install presidential envoys and aides, as well as the new heads of state institutions. (Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)
T
he Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the only party that has yet to declare its support for President Prabowo Subianto’s administration, has suggested the new leader should review its cabinet of over 100 members within half a year, amid growing questions from the public about whether the bloated cabinet will be efficient.
On Monday, a day after his swearing-in ceremony as the country’s eighth president, Prabowo inaugurated his Red and White Cabinet consisting of 109 members featuring a mix of his loyalists and appointees from the administration of his predecessor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, the father of Prabowo’s Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
Several heads of political parties behind his victory were also named coordinating ministers within the new administration, including Coordinating Food Minister Zulkifli Hasan from the National Mandate Party (PAN) and Coordinating Infrastructure and Regional Development Minister Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono from the Democratic Party.
Prabowo’s move to form what critics have described as a “fat cabinet” at the start of his first term has raised many eyebrows as it is seen as an apparent attempt to distribute “a slice of the pie” to everyone, despite the warnings of significant budget strain and a potential increase in bureaucratic hurdles.
But the PDI-P has treaded carefully around the issue of the bloated and potentially inefficient cabinet, with a lawmaker from the party, Said Abdullah urging the public to give the new government the benefit of the doubt.
“[The cabinet] has not done anything but has already been condemned as too fat [and inefficient]. Give it a chance. Surely the President will keep evaluating his administration,” Said stated on Tuesday, adding that the evaluation could be conducted within six months or one year to see whether it works according to Prabowo’s objectives.
Read also: Will Prabowo’s bloated cabinet face same fate as Sukarno’s?
