Indonesia president tipped to reshuffle cabinet on Wednesday

Indonesian President Joko Widodo is broadly tipped to announce a cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, in line with media stories, with the commerce portfolio among the many ministerial posts anticipated to be modified.

Speculation of a ministerial shake-up has grown in latest days, notably after a number of ministers had been summoned to the presidential palace on Tuesday.

The Koran Tempo newspaper cited sources saying a reshuffle can be introduced on Wednesday afternoon, although Reuters couldn’t instantly affirm the report.

Among ministers summoned to the palace on Tuesday had been Coordinating Economics Minister Airlangga Hartarto, Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi, and Agrarian and Spatial Planning Minister Sofyan Djalil.

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The National Mandate Party chairman, Zulkifli Hasan, and former navy chief, Hadi Tjahjanto, had been amongst non-cabinet members additionally summoned.
Analysts say the commerce minister may very well be amongst these changed after coming beneath political stress over the dealing with of coverage efforts to comprise a surge in home cooking oil.

Minister Lutfi had blamed a “palm oil mafia” for undermining efforts to comprise cooking oil costs after bringing in a shock ban on palm oil exports in April.

The export ban, since lifted, precipitated shockwaves on international markets and led to a collection of arrests for alleged corruption. The president may look to nominate a member from the National Mandate Party (PAN), which joined the ruling coalition earlier final yr, political observers say.

A ballot carried out by Charta Politika, which was launched on Monday and interviewed 1,200 individuals from May 25-June 2, confirmed that 63.1% of respondents supported a proposal to reshuffle the present cabinet. (Writing by Kate Lamb; Editing by Ed Davies)