Jokowi evaluating his ministers

JAKARTA. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo continues to evaluate the performances of ministers in his Cabinet, but he has decided not to conduct a reshuffle anytime soon.

“Evaluation is something that he carries out continuously, but there has been no discussion of [a Cabinet] reshuffle,” Cabinet Secretary Andi Widjajanto said on Wednesday.

Andi said that such an evaluation was conducted during every Cabinet meeting to see the progress of the implementation of ministries’ programs or if individual ministers had met targets set by Jokowi.

One of the benchmarks used by Jokowi in gauging the performance of his ministers, Andi said, was data on the rate of disbursement of the portions of the state budget earmarked for each ministry.

Speculation was rife that a Cabinet shake-up was imminent, especially following a slump in Jokowi’s approval rating, much of which was caused by the mediocre performance of many of his ministers.

A new Indo Barometer survey shows that the job approval rating for the Cabinet was low, at 46.8 percent, while the approval rating for the administration was slightly higher at 57.5 percent.

In its recommendation, Indo Barometer said that immediate measures should be taken to improve the administration’s performance since the approval rating for the presidency remained high, at 88.3 percent.

In the survey, conducted between March 13 and March 25, the only minister in Jokowi’s Cabinet who was deemed successful was Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, who had a 24.1 percent approval rating.

Another survey, commissioned by the Indonesian Public Opinion Study Group (kedaiKOPI), found that 96.5 percent of respondents expected an immediate Cabinet reshuffle as a result of the poor performance of several high-profile ministers.

Andi defended the performances of his colleagues in the Cabinet, saying that some did show outstanding performance.

“Ibu Susi’s work is incredible and she exceeds the target, so does Agriculture Minister [Amran Sulaiman]. There are several ministries that still need extra time [to post a better performance], particularly in terms of the state budget disbursement rate, because they are still carrying out structural reform,” he said.

Separately, State Secretary Pratikno said such an evaluation would not lead to a Cabinet reshuffle. “Such an evaluation is conducted continuously because the President doesn’t want any mistakes to arise because ministers are late in anticipating problems.”

Vice President Jusuf Kalla has also confirmed that in spite of the evaluation, no Cabinet reshuffle is imminent.

Industry Minister Saleh Husin, who is a Hanura Party politician, said he “was not aware”, nor would he lose any sleep from having to worry about a Cabinet reshuffle. “The most important thing is I do my job,” he said.

Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar, who is a NasDem party politician, said ministers nominated by NasDem often met and discussed their performances in the Cabinet.

“If we find that there are shortcomings, we remind each other. For example, Ferry, Prasetyo and I often meet to have discussions about it,” she said.

Siti was referring to Agrarian and Spatial Planning Minister Ferry Mursyidan Baldan and Attorney General M. Prasetyo, but she did not mention whether another NasDem politician, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno, was involved in the discussions. (Ina Parlina)