Cabinet Reshuffle Is Indeed Jokowi's Authority, But It Often Happens Due To Requests From Political Parties

Photo: BPMI Setpres/Kris

JAKARTA - Suddenly, it appeared to the public that President Joko Widodo was rumored to be changing his cabinet. The cabinet reshuffle is indeed the full authority of a president. But what has been so far, the public has caught that the reshuffle is more to accommodate the interests of supporting political parties rather than referring to performance.

This was conveyed by a political observer from Al Azhar University Indonesia (UAI), Andriadi Achmad. He suspects that the issue of a cabinet reshuffle, which has recently surfaced, is to accommodate parties that have just joined the governing coalition. Not to replace ministers whose performance is unsatisfactory.

This issue arose 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.

"Cabinet reshuffle is the president's prerogative, but I see that cabinet reshuffles often occur because of pressure from supporting political parties or non-government political parties joining the coalition, not because of poor performance while carrying out the mandate as a minister", Andriadi told VOI, Monday, September 13.

Therefore, according to Andriadi, a reshuffle for political purposes does not need to be carried out in the near future. Except, indeed for the sake of boosting the performance of the minister to restore conditions during the pandemic. "A cabinet reshuffle if it's not based on performance, it's not necessary. However, if it's based on performance evaluation, the reshuffle is an important step to boost the performance of the ministers", he suggested.