JAKARTA: Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto won sweeping new powers to create new ministries and restructure existing ones, giving him more room to both pursue his agenda and reward allies.
Lawmakers, largely supportive of outgoing President Joko Widodo and his successor Prabowo, passed a revised law to remove a cap of 34 ministries in a plenary meeting on Thursday (Sept 19). He will also be able to reorder or spin off ministries under the changes, which will become law once Jokowi signs them.
"This law aims to build an effective and efficient system,” Minister of Administrative Reform Abdullah Azwar Anas told lawmakers today. The move will give the president "flexibility to form ministries in line with national interests.”
The changes could make it easier for Prabowo to create cabinet posts to distribute among his allies. The incoming president is backed by seven parties controlling 82% of seats in parliament, leaving just one in opposition. Jokowi, whose eldest son will be vice president, has already appointed some of Prabowo’s closest allies to strategic ministerial posts and agencies.
"This is Prabowo’s way,” said Dedi Dinarto, Indonesia analyst at public policy adviser firm Global Counsel, said before the law’s passage.
"We can see that there is a symbiotic mutualism between Prabowo and his supporting parties, where both parties benefit.”
Plans to establish the new ministries have been discussed and accounted for in planning for the 2025 state budget, according to deputy finance minister Thomas Djiwandono, who is also Prabowo’s nephew. The spending plan was also approved on Thursday.
Prabowo may expand his cabinet to 40 ministerial seats, according to a report by Bank of America. Two senior politicians within Prabowo’s coalition have said that number can go as high as 44, local media outlet Detik reported earlier.
Prabowo, who is set to become president of South-East Asia’s largest economy in October, is said to be planning standalone government agencies for water security and revenue collection. The former general may also split up the Public Works and Housing Ministry, as well as the Environment and Forestry Ministry, according to local media reports this month.
Prabowo has said he wants to boost Indonesia’s growth to 8% per annum. But there are worries that larger government could increase bureaucracy and inefficiency, and add to the fiscal costs for a country that’s building a new capital city and rolling out a roughly US$29 billion free meal plan for children.
"It will burden much of the budget because the new state agencies can have authority that overlaps existing bodies,” Wasisto Raharjo Jati, an analyst at Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency, said earlier, adding that the country at one point had around 100 ministers during the Sukarno administration, which ended in the 1960s.
"Other countries even tend to reduce ministers.”
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which is not part of the ruling coalition, said the next administration should weigh the effectiveness of a much bigger government structure and its fiscal impact.
But while Prabowo gets more power to restructure his cabinet, he also risks being shackled to the interests of his broad coalition, said Achmad Sukarsono, a Singapore-based associate director at Control Risks, who focuses on Indonesia.
"Opposition will come through informal avenues like street protests and social media campaigns that can lead to unpredictable consequences,” he said.
"Thus, for businesses, the improved political certainty of an unchallenged government comes at the price of higher risks from public actions.” - Bloomberg
