REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The State Palace has no confirmation yet on rumors that the cabinet ministers will be reshuffled Sunday night.
Presidential Communications Team officer Ari Dwipayana when contacted on Sunday said he had not yet obtained official information on the matter.
"There is no confirmation yet," he said when contacted Sunday evening.
A number of sources within the Presidential Palace could not be contacted because their connections were busy.
One of President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi's) volunteer Reinhard Parapat said the same thing when he was contacted.
"I have not heard any news if there is a reshuffle tonight," he said.
Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said on Friday President Jokowi would not be influenced by rumors.
"The Palace will not depend on the rumors. It will decide things based on its own will," he told a press conference.
Usually, he said, rumors are raised by parties who wanted to join the cabinet. But their efforts would not be successful (to join the cabinet).
"Usually, the intention of those who spread rumors never comes true," he added.
On Friday, President Jokowi returned a question of a journalist who asked him about a rumored cabinet reshuffle plan, and whether it would be in this month.
"When? Why should it be in this month? I am asking you, why it should be in January?" Jokowi asked journalists after a joint dinner at the State Palace.
Journalists responded to the President's questions with different answers, but continued to ask him about the reshuffle.
However, Jokowi was firm and refused to comment on the reshuffle plan. The reshuffle can just be conducted in month one (January), month two (February) or in the following months, depending on the conditions, he said.
"Not yet, I mean I have no intention of commenting yet on that matter," the President said.
A cabinet reshuffle is the President's prerogative, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said earlier.
He responded to various rumors on the cabinet reshuffle, including one on the composition of the new cabinet ministers, the reshuffle before January 15, 2016, the possibility of the Golkar Party joining the government, and efforts to trace the source of the rumors.
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