A new survey launched by an independent Jakarta-based pollster has found that the public wants President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to give more ministerial seats to professionals and academics instead of politicians in the upcoming Cabinet reshuffle.
Jokowi’s Working Cabinet, which has received criticism mainly due to a poor law enforcement record coupled with an economic slowdown in the first half of the year, consists of 18 professionals and 16 political figures.
A total of 80.8 percent of respondents surveyed by the Indonesian Public Opinion and Discussion Group (KedaiKOPI) on June 3 urged Jokowi to reduce the number of politicians in his Cabinet and replace them with professionals and academics to improve the government’s unsatisfactory performance.
“Only around 13.6 percent of the respondents agreed that Jokowi should give ministerial seats to [opposition parties] and [pro-government ones],” said Hendri Satrio of the KedaiKOPI.
The communication and political analytics firm from Paramadina University said that the survey
had been conducted in Jakarta business districts like Sudirman and Kuningan.
Respondents also mentioned a number of ministers who they perceived to have performed poorly and deserved to be replaced.
Among them were Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno of the NasDem Party, Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister Yuddy Chrisnandi and Industry Minister Saleh Husin of the Hanura Party, Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Minister Marwan Jafar of the National Awakening Party (PKB) and Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Puan Maharani and Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna H. Laoly of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
Meanwhile, the non-politically aligned ministers recommended for replacement were Coordinating Economic Minister Sofyan Djalil, Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Indroyono Susilo, Trade Minister Rachmat Gobel, Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman, State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno, National Development Planning Minister/National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) chief Andrinof Chaniago and Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan.
“[Despite their poor performance] I think Yasonna and Puan will remain as ministers after the reshuffle because they are staunch cadres of PDI-P,” Hendri said.
Pollster Populi Center political observer Nico Harjanto said that a number of factors contributed to the perceived failures of Jokowi’s current crop of professional ministers, including the lack of political skills needed to successfully lobby the House of Representatives.
“That makes them unable to launch political lobbies [to support their programs],” Nico said.
Contrary to the views of pollsters, PDI-P deputy secretary-general Ahmad Basarah said that Jokowi should appoint more politicians as ministers from both pro-government and opposition parties.
“It is necessary [for Jokowi’s administration] to get support from outside [the pro-government caucus] so that political support for Jokowi-Kalla [in the House] becomes significant and political stability can be sustained,” said Basarah on Sunday.
Basarah said that the government needed more support in the House of Representatives because Indonesia’s system of government “is more like a parliamentary system than a presidential [system]”, despite the fact that the country actually operates under a presidential system of government.
Basarah also urged the President to ax ministers from the Cabinet’s economic team in the upcoming shake-up.
“We have a moral and ideological responsibility [to advise the President]. If ministers have yet to show their best performance then it means that a reshuffle is inevitable,” Basarah said.
The Jakarta Post
