Golkar: Citizens Have the Right to Form a Shadow Cabinet

Golkar Party Secretary-General Muhammad Sarmuji has stated that he has no issue with the public forming a Shadow Cabinet as a counterpart to the Red and White Cabinet. According to Sarmuji, the public has the right to use the Shadow Cabinet as a platform to channel criticism to the government. “That is a citizen’s right. So, as a citizen’s right, please go ahead,” he said at the House of Representatives (DPR) Complex in Jakarta on Tuesday, 21 July 2026.

A civil society coalition formed the Shadow Cabinet to oversee and correct the policies of the Red and White Cabinet under President Prabowo Subianto’s administration. The cabinet, comprising activists, academics, and experts, will formulate alternative government policies. Feri Amsari, Chair of the Shadow Cabinet Selection Committee, explained that the cabinet was established due to the weakening of checks and balances against the government.

Sarmuji acknowledged the public’s right to criticise but suggested that official state institutions like the DPR could also serve as a channel for such criticism. “If it is through the Shadow Cabinet, who will follow up on it? But if it is through official institutions like the DPR, there is a follow-up mechanism and oversight of that follow-up,” he said.

Meanwhile, the civil society coalition argued that the Shadow Cabinet is necessary because there is no sufficiently strong formal opposition to balance President Prabowo’s policies. Feri Amsari emphasised that the Shadow Cabinet is a platform for oversight and developing evidence-based policy alternatives, and it operates on a pro-bono and non-partisan basis. The Shadow Cabinet consists of 15 ministers selected from hundreds of applicants, who will act as direct counterparts to ministers in the Red and White Cabinet.