Indonesia leader sworn in with largest cabinet in decades

October 21

Former military general Prabowo Subianto has been sworn in as Indonesia’s president, as he announced the country’s largest cabinet since the 1960s.

The 73-year-old, who had been dogged by allegations of human rights abuse for decades, was inagurated on Sunday as the country’s eighth president.

This spells the end of an era under former leader Joko Widodo, known locally as Jokowi, who presided over a decade of economic growth and infrastructure development.

Having failed twice to become president, Prabowo finally clawed his way to the highest office after winning over 58% of the vote in February’s elections, against two rivals.

In his inaguration speech on Sunday, Prabowo vowed to eradicate corruption, poverty, and said he would be president for all Indonesians.

“We must always realise that a free nation is where the people are free,” said the president in a fiery speech that lasted almost an hour.

“They must be freed of fear, poverty, hunger, ignorance, oppression, suffering.”

He was sworn in with his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Jokowi’s eldest son.

Later on Sunday, Prabowo named 48 ministers and 58 vice-ministers, compared with 34 ministers and 30 vice-ministers under Jokowi.

These include the re-appointment of Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and chief economic minister Airlangga Hartarto, a sign of policy continuity in South East Asia’s largest economy.

“Challenges, hurdles and threats that Indonesia is facing amid the global dynamics and turmoil are not light [matters]”, Prabowo said.

The re-appointments showed Prabowo “does not want to take further risks”, political scientist Burhanuddin Muhtadi told Reuters.

“That’s why he chose key figures that served under Jokowi,” he said.

Some observers raised concerns that an enlarged cabinet would be inefficient. A “fat cabinet” can lengthen and complicate bureaucracy, public policy scholar Lina Miftahul Jannah told BBC Indonesian.

Re-organising the different ministries would also be resource intensive. “That costs a lot, in the sense that it’s not just the money spent, but the energy as well,” she said.

The cabinet will be sworn in later on Monday.

They will kick off the administration with a three-day retreat at a military academy in central Java.

The ministers and their deputies will sleep in tents, and the retreat is aimed at bonding the cabinet and helping members understand Prabowo’s vision, Reuters cited the migrant protection minister Abdul Kadir Karding as saying.

Additional reporting by BBC Indonesian

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