Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri (centre) gestures on May 24, 2024, on the first day of the party’s national meeting in Jakarta. - Antara
JAKARTA; The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the only party that has yet to join the incoming administration of president-elect Prabowo Subianto, has signalled support for his plan to form a cabinet of experts in their respective fields.
Prabowo, who chairs the Gerindra Party, is expected to announce the lineup of his enlarged cabinet during the day of his inauguration as next president on Oct 20.
“Seeing the challenges [the country is facing], we expect him to build a professional cabinet. I’d say a zaken cabinet can address existing and future challenges,” PDI-P secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto said on Sunday (Oct 6) during a party event in North Sumatra, as quoted from a press release.
Zaken is a term for a cabinet that features ministers who are technocrats rather than simply political party members. But Hasto reiterated that the PDI-P “respects the fact that cabinet planning is the prerogative of a sitting president”.
There have been reports that the PDI-P might join Prabowo’s big coalition of parties and secure seats in his cabinet amid signs of thawing relations between the two parties, which were on opposite sides in the February presidential election.
But Gerindra executive and House of Representatives deputy speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad was quoted by tempo.co as saying on Tuesday that “there has been no discussion [with the PDI-P] about the cabinet or the PDI-P’s future stance toward the new government”.
Prabowo and PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri are expected to meet before his inauguration, in a much-anticipated meeting that might offer a hint at how the PDI-P will position itself in regard to the incoming administration.
The PDI-P is the largest party by representation in the House and recently reclaimed the House speakership for another five-year term.
Although the PDI-P is the only party that has yet to decide its position toward Prabowo’s government, it has lent support to the revision to the 2008 Ministry Law that removed the legal limit of 34 on the number of ministries and therefore effectively allows Prabowo to form a bigger cabinet.
The revised law was unanimously passed last month by lawmakers before they ended their term.
New lawmakers are now planning to establish 13 House commissions, an increase from the current 11, in order to accommodate Prabowo’s plan for a cabinet expansion. Dasco said on Monday that lawmakers would discuss and announce the lineup of the commissions next week, as reported by Tempo.co.
According to Dasco, the House is also planning to establish a new body called the People’s Aspiration Body to complement the existing seven House bodies, although he stopped short of revealing the remit of the new body.
Dasco said each political party had already prepared a list of names to lead the House bodies and commissions.
Previously, Dasco said the House was expected this weekend to receive an update on the number of ministries in Prabowo’s incoming cabinet, which would help lawmakers decide how many new commissions they would form. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
