Expert: Cabinet Reshuffles Will Occur Frequently to Strengthen Support for Prabowo
Head of the Politics and Social Department at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Arya Fernandes, stated that cabinet reshuffles will occur frequently in the coming period.
Arya noted that the reshuffles carried out by President Prabowo Subianto are merely to strengthen support from coalition parties and volunteers.
“So moving forward, we will see that reshuffles will happen often. And they are generally carried out to strengthen political support for the President,” Arya said during a discussion on cabinet reshuffle issues on Monday (4/5).
Arya admitted that to date, he has not seen any cabinet reshuffle by Prabowo aimed at strengthening government performance. This pattern also occurred during previous administrations.
“And it is rare for us to find reshuffles intended for government performance goals. So if reshuffles do happen, we will almost certainly see them aimed at political calculations,” he stated.
To date, Arya said, Prabowo has conducted five reshuffles in 1.5 years of his administration, with more than 25 ministers or executive officials replaced or added. From the total cabinet positions, deputy minister roles have been filled mostly by politicians from supporting parties.
Arya noted that this differs from the administration of Indonesia’s sixth President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY). At that time, deputy minister positions were filled by professionals and non-party figures.
According to Arya, given the number of reshuffles, the President is still searching for an ideal cabinet structure. However, that pattern should already have been found since the administration has been running for two years.
Secondly, reshuffles may occur due to the roles of factions around the President. This situation, Arya said, indicates a strong trend in recent times.
“And this shows a fairly strong trend in recent times,” he added.
Furthermore, Arya said Prabowo still has homework to do in maintaining his approval rating or public satisfaction towards him.
According to Arya, the approval rating so far will determine coalition solidity ahead of the elections.
“And electability and satisfaction levels will determine party positioning. So parties might withdraw from the government if the approval rating and electability drop,” Arya stated.
Prabowo conducted another cabinet reshuffle on Monday, 27 April. In the latest or fifth reshuffle, Prabowo inaugurated six new officials in ministries and institutions.
Some are old hands assigned new duties, while the rest are newly appointed by the President. The inauguration took place at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, attended by several other ministers from the Red and White Cabinet.