Najwa Shihab Banks Issues Of Being Minister Of Social Affairs In Today's Memory, 11 August 2017

Indonesian journalist, Najwa Shihab, who was predicted to be Minister of Social Affairs. (ANTARA)

JAKARTA Memories of today, seven years ago, August 11, 2017, Indonesia's famous journalist Najwa Shihab dismissed the issue that he would be appointed Minister of Social Affairs (Mensos) replacing Khofifah Indar Parawansa. Najwa firmly revealed that she still loves the world of journalism.

Previously, Khofifah's advancement in the East Java (East Java) gubernatorial election made the position of Social Minister empty. Khofifah is the target of a cabinet reshuffle. The public also speculated that the right person to replace her was Najwa.

The government of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has often reshuffled the cabinet. Take for example the first cabinet reshuffle which took place in August 2015. Jokowi first started sending signals to the public that would make replacements.

The second cabinet reshuffle was the same. The reshuffle then occurred in July 2016. Jokowi made a reshuffle not without strong reasons. Jokowi emphasized the issue of efficiency and speed. According to him, the ministers must work according to the target and focus.

Anyone who can't achieve the target or miss, will definitely be replaced. This condition often provokes public interest. They are always curious about who the minister is who Jokowi considers unable to work according to the target.

The discourse on the third cabinet reshuffle plan emerged in early 2017. Jokowi's desire to reshuffle began to be read by the public. Jokowi is considered to have widely thrown reshuffle codes. He again said his ministers had to work according to the target, no matter what.

Jokowi did not hesitate to remove those who worked not according to the target. Social Minister Khofifah was also one of those who entered the ministerial radar that would be replaced. This condition is not due to Khofifah's poor performance.

Khofifah's replacement is considered important because the figure plans to compete in the 2018 East Java gubernatorial election. His candidacy is considered to make the political aroma of interest widespread if he remains a minister. The risk of work as a minister can be non-optimal.

"I always use the target. The minister never asked me, sir this is too big a target. That's the minister's business, the target must be completed. If it's not finished, it can be replaced, can be shifted, can be removed, and others," Jokowi said as quoted on the detik.com page, April 22, 2017.

Khofifah's plan to change was excited in public. The general assembly began to guess who was the right person as Khofifah's successor as Social Minister. Recently, the name of journalist, Najwa Shihab, as Khofifah's replacement.

Problems arise. Najwa Shihab's certainty as a minister does not yet exist. However, people have congratulated Najwa. They think that Najwa will be sworn in by Jokowi in the cabinet reshuffle on August 16, 2017.

Najwa also spoke up on August 11, 2017. He admitted that he was surprised that he was predicted to be a new Minister of Social Affairs candidate. Najwa also firmly revealed that she did not want to become a minister. Najwa feels that she still loves the world of journalism and will be involved there.

This affirmation made Najwa speculation that the Minister of Social Affairs and the cabinet reshuffle would subside. Even then there was no cabinet reshuffle in August 2017. Khofifah herself just resigned in early 2018. He was later replaced by Idrus Marham.

"For a while until this moment I still love a very extraordinary world of journalism. I was at WA then at the SMS it contained all the congratulations. But honestly I don't know where the source of the news came from. Then I was also not confirmed about the news that I was chosen as Social Minister."

"I want to convey that my arrival at the Palace has nothing to do with the reshuffle, but about my position as an ambassador. After all, the reshuffle problem is only God and the President," said Najwa Shihab as quoted by the ANTARA page, August 11, 2017.