In a surprise move, Indonesia's president Joko Widodo (Jokowi) shuffled 13 cabinet positions yesterday in an attempt to improve fiscal policy execution and particularly revenue collection.
Asia Director
Meredith Sumpter discusses the significance of the change-up and why, despite Jokowi's public justification for the move, politics is almost certainly at play.
Full Transcript:
Indonesian President Jokowi changed up his ministers recently in a move that was primarily intended to improve the execution of fiscal policy and specifically revenue collection, which he sees as critically important at a time when low commodity prices, and specifically low oil prices are stressing Indonesia's fiscal balance sheet.
The cabinet shuffle was also carried out to include new political allies. Golkar, which is Indonesia's most established and second-largest political party, joined Jokowi's ruling coalition in May. This move almost certainly required Jokowi to promise key cabinet posts to key Golkar members and allies, which is what we saw in yesterday's shuffle.
This is important because Golkar's support for Jokowi will eventually pave the way for the president's reelection in 2019 and improve his ability to maneuver around his own PDIP party chief, former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, who has been known to tie Jokowi to her political prerogatives.
