REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The cabinet reshuffle by President Joko Widodo on Wednesday meets two expectations amid the country's sluggish economic conditions, according to a political party leader.

"There were two expectations from the several newly appointed ministers in the president's working cabinet, one of which is to ensure improvements in the cabinet's performance, and second is to create optimism among the people," General Chairman of the United Development Party (PPP) Muhammad Romahurmuziy stated.

According to Romy, as Romahurmuziy is fondly called, right figures were appointed in the appropriate positions during the reshuffle.

"All coordinating ministers already have academic competence, and based on their verified track records, they are market-friendly," he remarked.

He said that the ministers assigned in the cabinet reshuffle, as compared to a game, were people who could be categorized as "rookies" or veterans who were competent in their respective fields.

The PPP was convinced that the next performance of the cabinet would help to better face the impact of the global economic slowdown on the Indonesian economy, Romy affirmed.

"Public and market optimism will also increase as all sectors will be coordinated by competent figures," he emphasized.

The Indonesian president reshuffled his working cabinet on Wednesday and installed six new ministers: Sofyan Djalil, Luhut Pandjaitan, Darmin Nasution, Rizal Ramli, Thomas Lembong, and Pramono Anung.

Djalil replaced Andrinof Chaniago as the national development planning minister/head of the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas).

Pandjaitan, a retired general and presidential chief of staff, replaced Tedjo Edhy Purdijanto as the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, while Nasution, a former governor of Bank Indonesia, took up Djalil's previous position of the coordinating minister for economic affairs.

Ramli, who is a former coordinating minister for economic affairs and was the minister of finance under the administration of former president Abdurrahman Wahid, replaced Indroyono Susilo as the coordinating minister for maritime affairs.

Lembong, a former official of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency, took up the position of Rachmat Gobel as the minister of trade.

Anung, a senior politician of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, replaced Andi Widjajanto as the cabinet secretary.

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