REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, KUPANG -- President Joko Widodo has met the public's demand for a cabinet reshuffle by replacing five ministers, but the revamp had yet to meet the public's expectations, according to an academician.
"Ministers who were replaced are those at the coordinating ministerial level. Now, the cabinet's problem is not at the coordination level but the performance at the economic and legal ministerial levels," Dr Ahmad Atang of the Muhammadiyah University of Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), stated here on Thursday.
Therefore, the replacement of the ministers has not yet offered a solution to the problems currently being faced by the nation, which has so far continued to draw flak from several quarters.
So far, several quarters have been criticizing the weaknesses of the ministries in the economic and legal fields. However the ministries in these fields, except the trade ministry, were not part of the reshuffle, he emphasized.
"I suspect that the public would respond negatively to the first phase of the reshuffle and would demand a second phase as the first phase of reshuffle will not meet their expectations," Atang remarked.
He pointed out that if this happens, it will be a cause of concern for the president as the public will continue to urge him to carry out another reshuffle.
"The first reshuffle phase will determine whether there will be a demand for another reshuffle," Atang, who is also an assistant rector of the Muhammadiyah University in Kupang, affirmed.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo 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 of 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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