Cabinet, parties and everything

What you need to know about President Jokowi’s new Advance Indonesia Cabinet

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo was officially inaugurated for his second term on Sunday 20 October. On Wednesday 23 October, he announced the new Cabinet, which will be known as the Advance Indonesia Cabinet (Kabinet Indonesia Maju). This backgrounder by Kevin Evans takes a comprehensive look at the make-up of the new Cabinet, with all its changes and continuity, and outlines some initial challenges and opportunities the Cabinet and the Government face.

Read or download the full backgrounder: Cabinet, parties and everything

For a quick glance, below are key points from this week’s announcements followed by a full list of Cabinet members (Page 2 of the backgrounder).

Key points from the Cabinet announcements:

• Half the members of the outgoing Cabinet have been reappointed, including 11 who keep their old portfolios.
• The number of Cabinet level positions is unchanged. However there has been some modest restructuring across a couple of ministries.
• The former Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs has been expanded to include investment creating the new Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment.
• The Ministry of Tourism has been expanded in scope to become the Ministry of Tourism and the Creative Economy, folding in the old Agency for the Creative Economy (BEKRAF).
• The former Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education has been split with the higher education components returning to their old home in the Ministry of Education and
• Culture. The Research and Technology components will form part of the new Ministry of Research and Technology and Head of a new National Agency for Research Innovation.
• Key performers, especially in the economic portfolios, have been retained including the Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.
• The removal of the former highly popular Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Susi Pudjiastuti, will create something of a gap in terms of the public seeing a decisive leader.
• There is a significant increase of military and police generals into ministerial portfolios.
• While the President was lauded for appointing eight women to his first Cabinet, this time there are only five women in the Cabinet.
• The President’s winning coalition has been expanded to include the party of the President’s defeated opponent, Gerindra.
• While bringing Gerindra into the governing coalition gives the government a 74 percent parliamentary majority, keeping the coalition together will be a bigger challenge for Jokowi.The
• President has also relaxed the rule he applied in his earlier Cabinet that a Party Chair could not serve concurrently as a minister.
• While Jusuf Kalla, the key champion of securing fast ratification of the IA-CEPA, is no longer in office, the President has signalled clearly in some of his comments at the time the Cabinet was announced that boosting exports and reducing the current account deficit would be a priority. This should also include support for enacting agreements that should boost exports.

Read or download ‘Cabinet, parties and everything’ – our guide to Jokowi’s new Cabinet

Read also: Kevin Evans outlines the key take-aways from Jokowi’s inaugural address and the process of forming of government in Indonesia