Cabinet Reshuffle: Need A Finance Minister Who Dares To Evaluate The President's Program

Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadive during a press conference after the handover procession at the Ministry of Finance office, Jakarta, Tuesday (9/9/2025). (ANTARA/Imatul Silfia)

JAKARTA Sri Mulyani Indrawati is included in the reshuffle list or reshuffle of the Red and White Cabinet announced by President Prabowo Subianto, Monday (8/9/2025). Her position as treasurer was replaced by Purbaya Yudhi Sadive.

Prabowo's decision to replace Sri Mulyani with Purbaya was called by a number of observers as the government's strategy to maintain market stability, as well as answer increasingly tough fiscal challenges. For Sri Mulyani herself, this moment also marks the closure of her work as a state treasurer that she has lived in three eras of government.

However, Purbaya has a series of homeworks. He had to work in the midst of Indonesia's economic conditions which were claimed not to be friendly to the middle class.

Bright Institute economist Muhammad Andri Perdana said that if the minister of Finance was replaced by someone who was more specific to the government, then this reshuffle would only worsen the situation.

Rumors of Sri Mulyani's resignation as Minister of Finance have been blowing hard since last week. The issue of her resignation emerged in the public spotlight after her private home on Jalan Mandar, Bintaro Sector 3A, South Tangerang, was looted by the masses in the early hours of Sunday (31/8/2025). However, the rumors were denied by the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto.

Sri Mulyani's position as the state treasurer was under pressure because a number of her policies were considered not pro-people, including the increase in salaries and allowances for DPR members in the midst of difficult community conditions.

Not only that, on several occasions Sri Mulyani's statement also became controversial. He once likened taxes to zakat and waqf, and questioned whether the salaries of lecturers and teachers should all be borne by the government or the public need to participate.

The Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS) assesses that Sri Mulyani's replacement from the position of minister of finance is positive news for the current Indonesian economy.

"The announcement of Sri Mulyani's replacement from the Minister of Finance is positive news for the economy," wrote CelIOS in a statement received by VOI.

"The demand to replace Sri Mulyani has long been called for by various skinkin tanks and civil society as a form of criticism for the Minister of Finance's inability to encourage fair tax policies, careful spending management, and rising debt burdens that are increasingly narrowing the fiscal space," he continued.

Bhima Yudhistira, Executive Director of CelIOS, said that Sri Mulyani should have resigned since President Prabowo invited her to join the government. He views that in terms of professionalism, women who graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign experienced a decline compared to several years earlier.

Sri Mulyani is also considered insufficient to control President Prabowo's big ambitions regarding free nutritious food (MBG), Red and White Cooperatives,food estate, and defense spending. In addition, from the tax policy perspective, it can be said that there has been no innovation in the last 10 years.

MBG, Merah Putih Cooperative, Food Estate, the defense budget has also jumped significantly without any brakes from Sri Mulyani. So this is what is then expected that Sri Mulyani will be removed," said Bhima.

However, it is still a question mark for Bhima whether Sri Mulyani's replacement with Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa is a positive thing.

Separately, Bright Institute economist Muhammad Andri Perdana confirmed that a series of policies that were not pro-people made Sri Mulyani pressure to resign. But on the other hand, if the seat left by Sri Mulyani is replaced by a figure who is obedient to the president's instructions, it has the potential to worsen the situation.

"Sri Mulyani is a person who has the capability, but it is used to fulfill the government's wishes through inappropriate policies," Andri said when contacted by VOI.

"What is needed right now is the minister who dares to speak to the president about programs that need to be evaluated, even when the program is the president's wish," he said.

According to Andri, this change will mean if the minister dares to maintain long-term fiscal health. "If Mrs. Sri is only replaced with a more 'yes man' minister, it is more sub-simitive, then it could worsen the situation," he said.

In his inauguration yesterday, Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadive emphasized his optimism for achieving economic growth of eight percent as targeted by President Prabowo Subianto. However, he assessed that the economic growth target would be achieved in stages.

Purbaya also plans to form a special team to accelerate budget absorption as applied in the era of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the beginning of the Joko Widodo administration.

Andri according basically economic growth will be correlated with tax revenues and this is a benchmark that is difficult to deceive. Therefore, when economic growth is 5, 6, 7, or even 8 percent but it turns out that it is not correlated with tax revenue, it means something is wrong.

"Well, later it can be judged from here, the trend of receiving all sources of state revenue. If growth increases, but tax revenues are not correlated, it means something is wrong," Andri explained.

Meanwhile, Bhima Yudhistira assessed that achieving the economic growth target was not an easy thing. Moreover, the remaining time is effectively only three months while Prabowo's previous directive was to make budget efficiency.

"So the efficiency of the budget that should be evaluated first, then absorption can be better," he said.