Cabinet Reshuffle: Please Replace Jokowi's Influence, But Prabowo Must Also Guarantee Clean From Corruption

JAKARTA The reshuffle or cabinet reshuffle carried out by President Prabowo Subianto is thick with political nuances. There are allegations that the president wants to continue to reduce the shadow of the 7th President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo.

Five ministers were replaced when Prabowo Subianto announced the Reshuffle of the Red and White Cabinet on Monday (8/9/2025). They are Coordinating Minister for Politics and Security Budi Gunawan, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani, Minister of Protection for Indonesian Migrant Workers Abdul Kadir Kading, Minister of Cooperatives Budi Arie Setiadi, and Minister of Youth and Sports Dito Ariotedjo.

"On various considerations, inputs, and evaluations carried out continuously by the President, this afternoon the President decided to make changes to the composition of the Red and White Cabinet in several ministry positions," said Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi during a press conference at the State Palace, Monday (8/9/2025).

This cabinet reshuffle is Prabowo's second after approximately 11 months as president. Reshuffleini was announced just about a week after the situation in a number of areas improved following a series of demonstrations over the past week at the end of August which ended in chaos.

Political observer and Executive Director of the Indonesia Political Opinion (IPO) Dedi Kurnia Syah said last month's demonstration wave slightly affected Prabowo's decision to reshuffle.

"The demonstration could not be separated from Prabowo's political decision, the Minister of Higher Education was previously replaced after a demonstration," said Dedi to VOI.

"This means that the president really wants conduciveness, resuftleini on the one hand as a response to public demands, especially people who are reshuffled are also worthy, in addition to being involved in legal problems, as well as good performance issues," he continued.

But one thing that is in the public spotlight is that four of the five names that have been reshuffled have been the right hand of the President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo. It is only natural for the public to see that this time's KMP reshuffle has a stronger political nuance, instead of simply shifting ministers who do not have a good performance. Dedi also agreed with this.

"On the other hand, Reshuflle has a political nuance, especially the consolidation of the government, this could be a new step to concentrate the cabinet into one of President Prabowo's carriages, there is no longer Jokowi's shadow," said Dedi.

As is known, when inaugurating 48 ministers at KMP in October last year, 17 of them helped Jokowi in the previous era. Of the 17 names, 12 ministers were found to have held old positions, while five other names changed positions.

This note makes President Prabowo said to be in the shadow of Jokowi. In fact, a number of observers say there is a twin sun in Prabowo's government considering the strong influence of the former Governor of DKI Jakarta.

Contacted separately, political observer Ray Rangkuti said that now 25 percent of Jokowi's former cabinet members have been replaced by Prabowo. He agrees that Prabowo's efforts to reduce Jokowi's influence in his leadership.

"Dejocowinization, apparently, is ongoing. Instead, switch to Gerindranization," he said.

In the future, according to Dedi, it is not impossible for the reshuffle to be carried out again. He said that there are two other figures who have the potential to become targets of reshuffle, namely the Minister of Energy Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia and the Minister of Forestry Raja Juli Antoni. These two figures, said Dedi, are often in the spotlight because they make a lot of noise.

In early February, Bahlil issued a 3 kg subsidized LPG sales policy no longer for sale at retail level. People can only buy it at Pertamina's official base at the highest retail price (HET) that has been set.

Meanwhile, Raja Juli recently became the spotlight because he was caught playing dominoes with the former suspect in the illegal logging case, Aziz Wellang, which went viral on social media.

These two figures have made a lot of noise, Bahlil related to LPG policies. Raja Juli had problems with nepotism efforts where he accommodated PSI cadres to his ministry's agenda, as well as being detected as having a relationship with criminals, "said Dedi.

"Although there is indeed a rush impression, considering that not all ministries directly have a replacement, it is not impossible for Prabowo to want to show that he is not a slow figure," he concluded.