Telly Nathalia & Beritasatu TV, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo confirmed in a Twitter posting on Thursday that he had completed the selection of a new Cabinet for the second term of his presidency, which will commence on Sunday.
The ministers' names will be announced either immediately after his inauguration, or in the following few days.
His tweet came in response to widespread speculation on the possible composition of his new Cabinet.
The president earlier said the number of ministers would remain the same as in the current 34-member Cabinet.
The name of incumbent Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Panjaitan is absent in one of the possible versions of his Cabinet currently doing the rounds.
Jokowi's meetings with the chairmen of opposition parties – Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of the Democratic Party, Prabowo Subianto of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and Zulkifli Hasan of the National Mandate Party (PAN) – have caused public speculation that their parties might be represented in the new Cabinet.
"I enthusiastically read several 'leaked' versions of names of Cabinet ministers for the period 2019-2024, just in case it was the correct one. Surely, the selection of the Cabinet has been completed. I will announce it immediately after the presidential inauguration on Oct. 20; it could be on the same day, or in the next few days after that," he said on his personal Twitter account.
Jokowi said separately on Wednesday that there would be new ministries and many new faces in his new Cabinet.
"There will be old ones; and many new faces. I have not calculated the percentage," he said after meeting with the leaders of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in Jakarta.