Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto (front centre), and Vice-President Gibran Rakabuming Raka (front row fourth from right) pose for a group photo with newly-appointed Cabinet Ministers after their swearing-in ceremony, at Merdeka Palace, in Jakarta, Indonesia, on October 21, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Newly inaugurated President Prabowo Subianto announced Indonesia’s largest-ever Cabinet on Sunday (October 20, 2024), with 109 members representing his pledge for a strong government. He named his Cabinet of Ministers, Vice-Ministers and head of national agencies the “Red and White Cabinet”, referring to the colours of Indonesia’s flag.

Mr. Subianto became the eighth president of Southeast Asia’s largest economy on Sunday (October 20, 2024). The Cabinet of Mr. Subianto’s predecessor Joko Widodo had 34 Ministers and head of government agencies.

Mr. Subianto has said earlier that he needs a strong administration, even though analysts said that his “fat” Cabinet would bloat the bureaucracy.

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“I want to create a strong government that would unite our multicultural society and diverse political interests,” Mr. Subianto said before inviting more than 100 people for interviews at his residence last week. “It must be a big coalition and some will say my Cabinet is fat.”

The Cabinet features politicians from a coalition of seven parties who supported his victory in the February election and figures allied with Mr. Widodo’s Cabinet, who were reappointed to continue their jobs under Mr. Subianto’s Presidency. Analysts said the move was a political reward to Mr. Widodo for the latter’s tacit support in the election.

Mr. Subianto was sworn in with his new Vice-President, 37-year-old Surakarta former Mayor Gibran Rakabuming Raka. He chose Raka, who is Mr. Widodo’s son, as his running mate, with Mr. Widodo favouring Mr. Subianto over the candidate of his own former party.

The former rivals became tacit allies, even though Indonesian Presidents don’t typically endorse candidates. Mr. Subianto was a longtime rival of Mr. Widodo, who ran against him for the Presidency twice and refused to accept his defeat on both occasions, in 2014 and 2019.

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But Mr. Widodo appointed Mr. Subianto as defence chief after his reelection, paving the way for an alliance despite their rival political parties. During the campaign, Mr. Subianto ran as the popular outgoing President’s heir, vowing to continue signature policies such as the construction of a multibillion-dollar new capital city and limits on exporting raw materials intended to boost domestic industry.

Backed by Mr. Widodo, Mr. Subianto swept to a landslide victory in February’s direct Presidential election on promises of policy continuity. Mr. Subianto reappointed nearly half of Mr. Widodo’s Cabinet members, including Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, making her the first person to hold the Ministry under three different Presidents.

Ms. Indrawati (62), who has served as the executive director of the International Monetary Fund and managing director of the World Bank, is one of Indonesia’s longest-serving Finance Ministers, having held the post for long stretches under Presidents Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Joko Widodo.

She has earned considerable respect in international circles, particularly for her reforms of the chaotic Indonesian taxation system and her role in steering Indonesia through the global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We regularly consulted with each other to discuss strategies for strengthening the Finance Ministry and the state finances to support his programmes,” Ms. Indrawati told reporters after meeting with Mr. Subianto last week.

Other Ministers from Mr. Widodo’s Cabinet include Interior Minister Tito Karnavian, Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan, Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia and State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir.

Mr. Subianto has announced an ambitious goal of increasing annual economic growth to 8% by the end of his five-year term and embarking on an ambitious spending programme, including an increase in defence spending, hikes in civil servants’ salaries and a programme to give 83 million children free meals.

Judges preside over a hearing on the Presidential election result dispute at the Constitutional Court in Jakarta, Indonesia, on April 5, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Four Indonesian Cabinet members testified on April 5 that no rules were violated in the distribution of government aid during the recent election campaign, despite claims by the two losing Presidential candidates that it was used for the benefit of the election winner.

Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto won the election with 58.6% of the votes, or more than 96 million ballots, more than twice the amount received by each of the two runner-ups in the three-way race, according to the General Election Commission.

The losing candidates — former Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan and former Central Java Gov. Ganjar Pranowo — say the election was marred by irregularities and are asking the Constitutional Court to annul the results and order a revote in separate lawsuits.

They say Mr. Subianto’s victory was the result of widespread fraud and that outgoing President Joko Widodo and his administration bent laws and norms to support Mr. Subianto, with government social aid used as a tool to buy votes.

Indonesian Presidents are expected to remain neutral in elections to succeed them, but Mr. Subianto, a former rival of Mr. Widodo who twice lost elections to him before joining his government, ran as his successor. He even chose Mr. Widodo’s son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, as his Vice-Presidential running mate, even though Mr. Raka did not meet a Constitutional requirement that candidates be at least 40 years old.

Mr. Baswedan and Mr. Pranowo argue that Mr. Raka should have been disqualified and are asking the court to bar him from a revote. Before the election, Mr. Raka was granted a controversial exception to the minimum age requirement by the Constitutional Court, which was then led by Anwar Usman, Mr. Widodo’s brother-in-law. Mr. Usman was later forced to resign as Chief Justice for failing to recuse himself.

Hefty social aid from the government was disbursed in the middle of the campaign — far more than the amounts spent during the COVID-19 pandemic — and Mr. Widodo distributed funds in person in a number of provinces.

A panel of eight Constitutional Court judges summoned Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendy, Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini to obtain their dispositions, said Chief Justice Suhartoyo, who like many Indonesians uses a single name.

Mr. Effendy denied that the government aid provided from January to June 2024 favoured Mr. Subianto in the February Presidential election, and said it was dispersed to achieve a target of reducing extreme poverty.

Mr. Hartarto, who is also chair of the Golkar Party, part of the coalition supporting Mr. Subianto, said a decline in rice production caused by the El Niño phenomenon made the disbursement of social assistance important. He said the aid aimed to protect the poor and vulnerable from rising commodity prices due to El Niño and global supply chain disruptions.

“The government has to implement strategies to maintain the availability of food supplies and people’s purchasing power,” Mr. Hartarto said, adding that the programme was transparent and would continue to be implemented.

Widely respected Finance Minister Indrawati, a former managing director of the World Bank, said the aid was part of the government budget and had been approved by Parliament.

“Its realisation and payment pattern is no different compared to the previous six-year period,” Ms. Indrawati said. She said the enactment of the 2024 state budget was completed before the electoral commission announced the candidates in the Presidential race.

The case will be decided by eight justices instead of the full nine-member court because Mr. Usman, who is still on the court as an associate justice, is required to recuse himself.

Mr. Subianto himself went to the court twice to challenge the results of the elections he lost to Mr. Widodo, but the court rejected his claims as groundless both times. His refusal to accept the results of the 2019 Presidential election led to violence that left seven dead in Jakarta.

The hearing began on March 28 and the verdict, expected on April 22, cannot be appealed.