Half Of The New Ministers Are Entrepreneurs, Signaling Jokowi Wants To Quickly Recover The Economy

President Jokowi and Vice President Ma'ruf Amin with new ministers (DOK. Instagram Jokowi)

JAKARTA - Three of the six new ministers appointed by President Joko Widodo have a business background, namely Sandiaga Uno as Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sakti Wahyu Trenggono as Minister of KKP, and Muhammad Luthfi as Minister of Trade.

Sandiaga Uno is the founder of the investment company Saratoga. He has also served as the General Chair of HIPMI. Then, Trenggono is the founder of PT Tower Bersama Infrastruktur. Meanwhile, Luthfi once led the HIPMI entrepreneur association and helped form the Mahaka Group business group.

Seeing this condition, political observers from the SMRC assessed Jokowi as giving a signal that he wanted an acceleration of economic recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This implies that the president is giving the public that in the future it is the focus in the area of economic recovery," Djayadi said in a webinar discussion, Sunday, December 27.

This was reinforced by the position of the new Minister of Health which was held by Budi Gunadi Sadikin, who has a banker background and had been Deputy Minister of BUMN.

According to Djayadi, Jokowi wants the Ministry of Health to be led by ministers who have strong management expertise. Because, in the near future, a large-scale distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine will be carried out.

"Without strong leadership and managerial skills from the Ministry of Health, the vaccination which should be led by the Ministry of Health will be difficult to take place," said Djayadi.

"So, people like Budi Sadikin were chosen who were considered to have adequate managerial abilities and leadership skills. So that they not only deal with the pandemic, but also can integrate in the economic sector which is the main focus of the government in the future," he continued.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) installed six of his new ministers in the Advanced Indonesia Cabinet. The six people were sworn in on Wednesday, 23 December or Wednesday Pon if using the Javanese calendar.

The six ministers who were appointed were Tri Risma Harini as Minister of Social Affairs, Sandiaga Uno as Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Budi Gunadi Sadikin as Minister of Health.

Then Sakti Wahyu Trenggono as Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Yaqut Choilil Qoumas alias Gus Yaqut as Minister of Religion, and Muhammad Lutfi as Minister of Trade.