The council is staffed with notable figures, including former trade and finance ministers, a former investment banker and economic experts. - ST / WAHYUDI SOERIAATMADJA
JAKARTA: Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has officially assembled a team of economic advisers known as the National Economic Council (DEN), with his former military colleague Luhut Pandjaitan as its head.
The eight-member council, which is part of Prabowo’s expanded administration, is also staffed with notable figures, including former trade and finance ministers, a former investment banker and economic experts.
On Tuesday (Nov 5), Prabowo announced and inaugurated the seven, who will be part of DEN as economic advisors, at a ceremony at the presidential palace.
They are former trade minister Mari Elka Pangestu, former finance minister Muhammad Chatib Basri, investment banker turned bureaucrat Septian Hario Seto, economist Firman Hidayat, businessman Haryanto Adikoesoemo, Indonesian stock market strategist Heriyanto Irawan and university professor Arief Anshory Yusuf.
The DEN, which existed briefly under president Abdurrahman Wahid from 1999 until 2001, will play a key role in giving advice and recommendations directly to the President on wide-ranging strategic policies and to monitor policy implementations.
Growing Indonesia’s economy is at the forefront of Prabowo’s national agenda, and his plans include investor-friendly and tourist-centric policies.
The President, who was inaugurated on Oct 20 for a five-year term, has set an ambitious annual economic growth target of 8 per cent by his third year in office. Indonesia has enjoyed about 5 per cent annual expansion over the past five years.
Luhut, who is the former coordinating minister for maritime affairs and investment, was also known as the fixer-in-chief of former president Joko Widodo’s government. Luhut was inaugurated as DEN chairman along with Prabowo’s Cabinet on Oct 21.
Luhut’s last-minute appointment to DEN came as a surprise, as local media had reported that he was about to retire and his name had not appeared along the Cabinet list announced on Oct 20.
Both Prabowo and Luhut were in the army’s special elite forces called Kopassus and were on the same assignment several times. They graduated from the same military school in Magelang, Central Java, in 1974 and 1970, respectively.
A draft presidential regulation seen by The Straits Times stipulates the role of the DEN, which is to give recommendations on strategic policies and national priority programmes. And to also tackle any problems that might hinder national priorities, as well as monitor and evaluate the implementation of strategic policies.
Prabowo’s Cabinet is the largest in recent history, with the team reflecting his aim to prioritise policy continuity and political stability.
The 48-member Cabinet, which was inaugurated on Oct 21, features a mix of politicians, professionals and business managers. This approach is expected to boost the administration’s legitimacy and reduce potential tensions among political elites.
On Sept 19, lawmakers passed revisions to the law that eliminated the previous limit of 34 ministries, effectively allowing Prabowo to set up new ministries when he took over as president in October.
Prabowo is also banking on ambitious schemes such as establishing food estates that will be about 30 times the size of Singapore, and rolling out a free meals programme for 83 million people to boost local production of chickens, eggs and milk.
Plans are also being drawn up to make oil and gas exploration more investor-friendly, by giving greater flexibility in revenue sharing, and promoting high-end tourism with plans to get more yachts to sail into Indonesia. - The Straits Times/ANN
