Is It Important To Reshuffle President Jokowi's Cabinet In The Near Future?
JAKARTA - This issue emerged after the General Chairperson of Jokowi Mania Volunteers (Joman) Immanuel Ebenezer said that President Jokowi would immediately reshuffle his cabinet or reshuffle in the near future.
According to him, this reshuffle needs to be done so that Jokowi inherits a good government in his second term.
"This reshuffle is also a necessity in the Jokowi government so that the last Jokowi administration leaves a good legacy for his government, which is less than optimal in the second term", he continued.
Political communication observer from Esa Unggul University, Jamiluddin Ritonga, assessed that the cabinet reshuffle was not important if the aim was only to accommodate certain parties, such as the National Mandate Party (PAN) which had just joined the government.
"There is no need for a reshuffle if the replacement minister is an ordinary person. This means that the reshuffle is only more on the political aspect of accommodating people who have contributed to Jokowi who have not been given positions. so it will damage the solidity of the existing cabinet", said Jamiluddin when contacted by VOI, Sunday, September 12.
However, he continued, if the reshuffle was to improve the cabinet's performance, of course, it would be highly supported even though it was carried out in the midst of a pandemic. With a note, said Jamiluddin, his successors are indeed extraordinary people.
"Jokowi himself always says he doesn't like mediocrity. Well, he should prove it by choosing ministerial candidates so that his cabinet is not an ordinary person", said Jamiluddin.
"If that's what he chooses, I'm optimistic that Jokowi's cabinet will be able to deal with the impact of COVID-19. But if it's mediocre, in my opinion, this is actually a relatively futile job", he continued.
Jamiluddin emphasized that whoever the new minister was chosen by President Jokowi to replace the less performing minister, his figure must have more integrity and capability than the ministers in the current Indonesia Forward Cabinet.
"Yes, it's called a reshuffle, it must be capable of not distributing cakes", he said.
According to him, if the reshuffle is only done to accommodate PAN Party, then even a thousand times the Jokowi-Ma'ruf cabinet reshuffle will not experience improvement.
"I'm worried that the reshuffle will only accommodate PAN. If that's the case, then Jokowi's cabinet will be reshuffled 1.000 times as well. And it will leave the image that Jokowi can only reshuffle, but his performance is just like that", concluded Jamiluddin.
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A political observer from Al-Azhar University in Indonesia, Ujang Komaruddin, believes that President Joko Widodo's cabinet reshuffle is important considering that many ministers do not perform their duties.
"Supposedly, if the reshuffle is based on the evaluation of the minister's performance, it is important (to do, ed), because many ministers do not perform", said Ujang to VOI, Sunday, September 12.
However, Ujang suspected that the reshuffle was carried out not only to replace underperforming ministers but also to accommodate the inclusion of PAN in the cabinet.
"It seems that the direction is mixed, evaluating the minister's performance with the issue of accommodation for the entry of PAN, as I analyzed last time. PAN is in a coalition to get one seat", he explained.
The director of the Indonesia Political Review (IPR) said there were two interests in a cabinet reshuffle. First, it is because the reshuffle is the right of the president. Second, also to accommodate the interests of PAN who have just joined the coalition.
"But (Jokowi, ed) should be able to measure and evaluate the performance of ministers. Even though it looks like Jokowi will be more inclined to the inclusion of PAN. Even if there is a coalition in other ministries, it will not make a big change this time", said Ujang.
No Reshuffle yet, The Palace: The Government Focuses on Dealing With Pandemic
Meanwhile, previously, the Special Staff of the Minister of State Secretary (Stafsus Mensesneg) Faldo Maldini, emphasized that President Joko Widodo had no plans to reshuffle the Cabinet in the near future.
According to him, currently, President Jokowi has chosen to focus more on dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic while at the same time restoring the national economy.
"Today, the government's focus is on handling the pandemic and economic recovery", Faldo told reporters on Wednesday, September 8.
"The trend in COVID-19 cases has improved, although we will continue to be vigilant and prepare. This is a priority", he said.
He ensured that the ministers in the Jokowi-Ma'ruf government remained solid to bring Indonesia out of the pandemic situation. "The government team has worked very well today", said Faldo.