1. 21/03/2016 3:00 pmThere’s plenty to like in President Joko Widodo’s cabinet | HeraldSun
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There’s plenty to like in President Joko Widodo’s cabinet
New Indonesian President Joko Widodo (centre) stands with Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi (left) and State
Secretary Praktikno (right) during an official inauguration at the presidential palace in Jakarta. Picture: AFP
WITH this week’s swearing-in of President Joko Widodo’s cabinet we can finally
begin to get the measure of Indonesia’s new Government.
The fact that it took a solid week of negotiations following the inauguration of the
President on October 20 speaks to the difficulties facing the new President in putting
together a cabinet of his own choosing.
It’s been a long wait. Joko Widodo — or Jokowi as he is affectionately known — was
elected on July 9.
After four months of waiting, the general consensus is that this cabinet is good but
not great. It lacks — as The Jakarta Post has put it — “wow factor” both because it’s
missing some obvious stars, including outstanding ministers and deputy ministers
from previous cabinets, and because it has several dubious inclusions.
A good cabinet is the making of a good government. A good government for
Indonesia will be good for us in Australia. With good management, and a little good
luck, we will be living next to one of the strongest economies in the world, home to
260 million people, with a middle-class population bigger than Great Britain.

2. 21/03/2016 3:00 pmThere’s plenty to like in President Joko Widodo’s cabinet | HeraldSun
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What can we expect from this unassuming, if not unremarkable, new Government?
There are five things that stand out.
Firstly, and rather surprisingly, Jokowi has not used the cabinet to broaden his
parliamentary coalition. It does not reflect serious intent to achieve majority support
in Parliament by co-opting the backing of parties such as Suharto’s Golkar and
Yudhoyono’s Partai Demokrat through ministerial appointments.
Lukman Saefuddin, the reformist Minister of Religious Affairs, remains in the new
cabinet and one might assume from that that his United Development Party might
support the Government.
That shifts the balance a little but still does not give Jokowi a majority. It may be he
still counts on getting the support of the Democrats and Golkar and intends to
achieve it by other means.
The good news is that this marks the beginning of normal democracy where there is
a clear government side of the House and an opposition coalition. Previous
presidents have attempted rainbow coalitions and, despite a majority in the House
that should give them, have failed to get the support of parliament at crucial points.
Secondly, despite not engaging in horsetrading for ministerial posts with the parties
that supported his presidential opponent Prabowo Subianto’s campaign, Jokowi has
nevertheless had to accommodate political appointments from the parties that
supported his campaign, resulting in at least 13 political appointees out of 34
positions. That has given rise to his cabinet’s most obvious flaws: the five ministers
backed by former president Megawati Sukarnoputri and her PDI-P, all of whom are
weak or problematic.
Clearly, the matriarch has had her way and Jokowi is running up against the limits of
what is possible.
The most significant concern is the appointment of former army general Ryamizard
Ryacudu as Minister of Defence. Not only does it break with 15 years of democratic
government tradition of appointing civilians to this post, Ryamizard, a Megawati
confidant, has a track record of hawkish nationalism, having led campaigns in East
Timor and Aceh.
LESS serious, but also somewhat scandalous, is the appointment of Puan Maharani,
Megawati’s daughter, as Co-ordinating Minister of Human Resources Development

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and Cultural Affairs. Fortunately, civilian governance is sufficiently well established
that Ryamizard is unlikely to do too much harm and at 64, the oldest member of this
youthful cabinet, is possibly not far off retirement. He appears to have been a last-
minute substitution and might have been seen as the least worst option. And despite
her weighty title, Puan, who has no track record of public service or management
success, is unlikely to exercise great influence.
Thirdly, this is a largely clean and progressive cabinet: eight of 34 ministers are
women, including Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.
Significantly, Retno began her impressive diplomatic career with a posting in
Canberra. She is currently serving as ambassador to the Netherlands, where her
unassuming, down-to-earth manner and personal warmth have made her a popular
figure. Australia will have a good friend in the Foreign Minister.
Eight ministers come from outside Java, including Minister for Women’s
Empowerment and Child Protection Yohana Susana Yembise, who is a Papuan
professor of education. And remarkably, 20 of the new ministers — 60 per cent of the
cabinet — are under the age of 45.
Fourthly, the Working Cabinet — as Jokowi modestly has titled it — is not flashy and
lacks established stars but it is, true to promise, actually filled with impressive
technocratic substance: 40 per cent of the ministers have PhDs and 65 per cent have
postgraduate qualifications, mostly from American, Australian or British universities.
Finally, this cabinet and Government appear set to live up to Jokowi’s promise of
being pro-business and pro-entrepreneurship. The key finance and economic posts,
such as Minister of Finance Bambang Brodjonegoro, are in safe, centrist hands. And
many of the new ministers, such as Minister for Maritime Affairs Fisheries Susi
Pudjiastutia, are self-made business people.
Flashy it might not be but this is looking like the makings of a good Government.
Good for Indonesia and good for us.
GREG BARTON IS THE HERB FEITH RESEARCH PROFESSOR FOR THE STUDY
OF INDONESIA AND SENIOR ADVISER IN THE AUSTRALIA-INDONESIA
CENTRE AT MONASH UNIVERSITY