REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives Agus Hermanto expressed confidence that the cabinet reshuffle will bring about improvements in various fields, particularly in the economic sector that is currently facing gloomy conditions.
"It is the prerogative of the president to replace his ministers. What he did must have been based on his conviction that it will improve the country's economic conditions," Hermanto remarked at the parliament building on Wednesday.
As the newly appointed coordinating minister for maritime affairs, Rizal Ramli had been active in the economic field, he added, saying the policies he implements will usher in improvements to boost the country's economy.
In addition, the appointment of Darmin Nasution as the coordinating minister for economic affairs also instills new hope for the economy as he, too, had been involved in the economic field for a long time.
"The president has gauged his competence and believes that he can improve the country's economic performance," Hermanto pointed out.
According to Hermanto, who is a politician of the Democratic Party, the people should support the newly appointed ministers, so that the efforts to restore the country's economy would be realized.
The DPR deputy chairman affirmed that one cannot as yet ascertain whether the new ministers will be able to deliver a good performance.
"It is not good to only speculate. We should first wait and watch their performance. However, their backgrounds could be viewed as beneficial in planning to bring about improvements in the economy," he added.
He said the cabinet reshuffle was required to improve the Indonesian economy, which was facing gloomy conditions.
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 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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