Luhut Panjaitan (right) salutes the newly-inaugurated Army Chief Gen Maruli Simanjuntak who is also his son-in-law during Maruli's swearing-in ceremony in Jakarta in November in what was Luhut's first public appearance since his extended sick leave. - AP
JAKARTA: A senior minister and close confidant of President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo has said that the incumbent is keen to have his eventual successor link up with key international partners who have helped fund the nation’s development.
Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said on Christmas Eve that Jokowi did not want his successor to waste time building personal relationships with world leaders from scratch.
“He told me, ‘I will bring him to meet figures like MBS, MBZ and other presidents and world leaders,’” Luhut said in a video posted on Instagram on Sunday.
MBS refers to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and chief executive, Mohammed bin Salman, while MBZ is shorthand for United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed – two key partners who have supported Indonesia’s development under Jokowi.
Having governed for two presidential terms, Jokowi is barred from reelection next year
Luhut noted that Jokowi wanted to ensure that the next president can leverage good relations with other world leaders, so as to realise his Golden Indonesia 2045 vision.
“Don’t lose time building personal relationships,” the senior minister said, echoing what Jokowi told him.
Prior to his Instagram post, Luhut said that the next Indonesian leader was tasked with achieving 6 per cent economic growth so that the country can escape the middle-income trap and reach high-income status.
To achieve this, the retired army general suggested that the incoming president continue with the programmes of the current administration, including industrial downstreaming, improving economic efficiency, leveraging tourism and the creative economy and focusing more on education and research, food security and the energy transition.
The former Golkar Party politician said he was hopeful that the next president would have the courage to “defend the people’s interests” and stay on the current policy direction.
“This is so the vision of a ‘golden’ Indonesia by 2045 can be relished by future generations to come,” Luhut said on Friday, as quoted by Kompas.com.
Luhut, who backed Jokowi’s rise to power from early on in the latter’s career, is considered by many to be the President’s right-hand man and a potent cabinet fixer. He wields considerable influence even in diplomatic circles, often engaging with key partners like China, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and the UAE on behalf of Jokowi.
The coordinating minister has only recently returned from an extended leave of absence, having spent two months in Singapore undergoing medical treatment.
At a cabinet meeting in Bali on Dec. 22, he presented a comprehensive evaluation of the Jokowi administration’s work since 2014. He also used this opportunity to convey to the press his hopes for a peaceful 2024 election and insisted that he would be rooting from the sidelines in the upcoming polls.
“For someone like me, I can say I’ll enliven the situation [...] from the bleachers, so Indonesia can continue to develop,” he said in another Instagram video post. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
