Indonesia’s Prabowo swears in new cabinet with key holdovers

JAKARTA: Newly inaugurated Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Monday swore in his new cabinet, which includes key members of his predecessor’s team and suggests he will continue his main policies, analysts said.

The 73-year-old former general became leader of the world’s fourth most populous nation on Sunday, delivering a bombastic speech in which he pledged to fight corruption and protect democracy.

Prabowo had promised during the campaign to continue many of his predecessor Joko Widodo’s policies and picked Widodo’s eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka as his running mate.

The new cabinet of 48 ministers includes a mix of Prabowo loyalists and reappointments from the administration of Widodo, more popularly known as Jokowi.

Rosan Perkasa Roeslani returned as investment minister and Bahlil Lahadalia as energy minister.

Minister of state owned enterprises Erick Thohir also kept his portfolio, as did finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

Firman Noor, a political analyst at the National Research and Innovation Agency, singled out former World Bank managing director Sri Mulyani’s reappointment as a sign that Prabowo was being “pragmatic” in maintaining continuity from the previous administration, particularly in the economic sector.

“Sri Mulyani enjoys positive market sentiment, especially internationally, which may not be guaranteed with a new appointee. Maintaining this positive sentiment is crucial for the government to function smoothly, as any disruption could lead to slowdowns,“ he said.

Other members of the cabinet are seen as close allies of the new president, such as defence minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin.

Like Prabowo, Sjafrie is accused by rights groups of abuses during unrest near the end of autocrat Suharto’s rule in the late 1990s and in East Timor under Indonesian occupation.

Prabowo named Sugiono, an official from his party and former member of the army’s special forces who goes by one name, as the new foreign minister.

Experts say Prabowo will have to bring together ministers from his own Gerindra party and those who have remained from Jokowi’s cabinet.

“When seeing the composition of the cabinet, the challenge that will appear in Prabowo’s first government is how he can unite people who come from their own political background,“ said Dedi Dinarto of public advisory firm Global Counsel.

Later in the week, the new president will take his ministers to a three-day retreat at a military academy in the mountains of Central Java where they will stay in tents.

Prabowo’s cabinet has only five female ministers.

His predecessor Jokowi began his 10-year presidency with nine women in the cabinet and ended it with four.

Prabowo has pledged to boost Indonesia’s economy from five to eight percent growth and has committed to Jakarta’s non-aligned foreign policy, but has signalled that he will be bolder on the world stage.