Palace Affirms No Cabinet Reshuffle Tomorrow Wednesday

JAKARTA - Information on the cabinet reshuffle continues, including news that President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) will conduct a reshuffle on Wednesday, April 21 tomorrow. Responding to this, Minister of State Secretary (Mensesneg) Pratikno denied this.

He emphasized that there is no reshuffle or reform of the ministers in the Advanced Indonesia Cabinet as the information circulating.

"Nothing (reshuffle, red)," said Pratikno to reporters at the State Palace Complex, Central Jakarta, Tuesday, April 20.

Meanwhile, regarding the addition of the Ministry of Investment and the merger of the Ministry of Research and Technology (Kemenristek) with the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud), Pratikno asked the public to wait for President Jokowi's statement.

"Just been waiting," he said.

Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung also ensured that President Jokowi would not hold a reshuffle tomorrow. This is because the former governor of DKI Jakarta has scheduled a work visit.

"Tomorrow the president has a working visit to West Java," said Pramono.

The discourse to reshuffle the cabinet surfaced after the DPR approved the formation of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology, as well as the Ministry of Investment.

It's just that, the back of this issue is getting wider not only in the two ministries. Six ministerial positions appear in the public sphere including top positions at the Ministry of Education and Culture-Research and Technology and the Ministry of Investment. However, the question of the names being considered for replacement is still vague.

Regarding the new ministerial candidate, so far there have been two people who have publicly acknowledged being summoned by the Palace amid the reshuffle issue, namely members of the NasDem faction, Rapsel Ali and young NU figure Witjaksono. Both are reportedly candidates for the Minister of Investment.

In addition, as is well known, the PKB elite Luqman Hakim, the government coalition party, mentioned the minister to be reshuffled with the initials M. There were at least four cabinet members whose initials were M, namely Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud Md, Coordinating Minister for PMK Muhadjir Effendy, Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi and Chief of Staff to the President (KSP) Moeldoko.

Then the PAN speculation entered the coalition. This speculation is in line with the initial information of the cabinet members who will be reshuffled. PAN is said to be filling the post of the Coordinating Minister for PMK or the Minister of Transportation (Menhub). Now the Coordinating Minister for PMK is Muhadjir Effendy, while the Minister for Transportation is held by Budi Karya Sumadi.