Indonesia President and Vice President Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who was elected by 96,214,691 or 58.59% of the population, will be inaugurated by the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) on October 20, 2024. In addition to promising to continue the development that has been laid down by President Joko Widodo, during the campaign, Prabowo-Gibran promised “8 Quick Programs” that will be the main focus of the government in the next five years, including nutritious food for school children, increasing farmer productivity and free health checks.
Ahead of the inauguration, Prabowo spartanly visited and met with the leaders of friendly countries: namely Brunei Darussalam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam, and most recently met President Ferdinand Marcos Jr at the Malacañang Palace, Philippines, on September 14. Prabowo previously visited Turkey, Russia, Australia, and Papua New Guinea. All of these trips were in his capacity as Minister of Defense in President Joko Widodo’s cabinet. “He (Prabowo) puts in so much effort to meet other world leaders to signal that he is into foreign relations and Indonesia will likely be more outward-looking under his leadership,” said Muhammad Habib Abiyan Dzakwan from the Indonesian Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
Domestically, Prabowo-Gibran is faced with various problems, ranging from education, healthcare, and unemployment, to terrorism. Prabowo-Gibran is faced with various challenges related to violent extremism and the presence of hundreds of Indonesian citizens (WNI) associated with foreign terrorist fighters (FTF) or cross-border terrorists abroad. The Director of The Habibie Center, Mohammad Hasan Ansori, said that although the handling of terrorism in Indonesia has shown significant progress in the last decade, the terror groups Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) and Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) are still active in various activities including recruitment, preparation, and funding terror.
“We can see that there has been a significant decrease in terrorist attacks and I think that is the success and achievement of our nation, the National Counter Terrorism Agency (BNPT) which we need to appreciate,” said Mohammad Hasan Ansori in a public discussion themed “Challenges in Handling Terrorism in the New Government Era”. However, he believes that terrorism is a problem of all of the nation. “This problem is too big to be handled only by the government, it requires the involvement of all parties to help handle problems related to terrorism in Indonesia.”
Moreover, all parties are guessing about Prabowo’s upcoming cabinet. It is still unclear who will be Prabowo’s assistants, but it has been widely circulated that the General Chairman of the Gerindra Party will form a “zaken cabinet”. As expressed by Ahmad Muzani, Secretary General of the Gerindra Party, Prabowo wants his cabinet to be experts in their respective fields. This step was taken so that a ministry is truly led by people who are experts and relevant to the ministry. The purpose of forming this cabinet is to prevent excess functions in the cabinet, improve the performance of ministers, and avoid potential corruption that will be carried out by the ranks of ministers within it. The formation of a cabinet is the prerogative of the elected president, including adding ministries.
However, it should be remembered that adding ministries will make the inefficient bureaucratic structure. It is very important to maintain the bureaucracy as an organization that can provide excellent public services effectively and efficiently. Prabowo must be able to optimize the bureaucracy effectively and efficiently and apply other principles of good governance, to provide excellent public services and improve current performance.