Indonesia: Prez Widodo's new Cabinet Ministry to focus on job creation

Indonesian President Joko Widodo recently inaugurated ministries in his second term-cabinet and ordered his new cabinet ministers to simplify the country's regulatory framework within their first month in office. He stressed how the new administration's priority should be to create new jobs in Southeast Asia's biggest economy. He further added that the ministers should work as a team to identify Central and regional government regulations that overlap and are complicated. He further ordered to identify anything that hampers the nation's services to the people or anything that hampers investment by the business community. 

President Widido has also ordered to revise 74 laws by applying 'omnibus laws', or legislation that encompasses diverse and unrelated issues. The Indonesian president has reportedly complained that the country has not attracted much investment from the manufacturers trying to move out of China compared with other Southeast Asian countries. According to international reports, Widodo has kept some economic ministers including the Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrwate and his longtime ally Pandjaitan in his new team. 

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Rival elected as defence minister

On October 23, President Widodo chose his election rival Prabowo Subianto as his Defence Minister. Subianto was the Opposition leader in Widodo's first term who was defeated and served as a former general allegedly involved in cases of human rights abuse. Widodo had to face a bitter campaign plagued by online fake news and claims from Subianto that the government staged a massive, systematic and fraudulent election. On Wednesday, October 23, he added a total of 34 entrepreneurs and technocrats to his Cabinet to address slowing growth in the country. 

The 58-year-old was sworn in as President on October 20, for his second and final five-year term. He reportedly pledged to champion democracy and take bolder actions against poverty and established corruption in Indonesia. Widodo asked his Cabinet and institutional heads to fight graft by creating a system to close off any chances of corruption. Speaking on the appointment of the new Defense Minister, the President said that he knows his job well. 

“Don’t be corrupt! Be serious at work, and for those who are not serious, I would take them out of this (Cabinet)”, Widodo warned. 

(With agency inputs)

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