Jakarta – A number of senior members in the cabinet of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, including some ministers backed by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) failed to show up on Thursday during an iftar dinner held at the Presidential Palace.
Visibly absent from the breaking of the fast event were Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini, Law and Human Rights Minister Yassona Laoly and Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadijono – three cabinet members from the PDI-P.
Other cabinet members who skipped the iftar dinner were Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, a senior aide to Jokowi, Manpower Minister Ida Fauziah, a politician of the National Awakening Party (PKB), and Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar, a senior politician of the NasDem Party.
The PDI-P, which twice backed Jokowi in the presidential election, has been a vocal critic of the outgoing President, especially in the lead-up to the Feb. 14 presidential election following his move to back the bid of Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto for the country's top job. The party nominated former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo, who Jokowi initially touted as his successor.
Speculation was rife in the lead-up to the Feb. 14 balloting that all ministers nominated by the PDI-P in President Jokowi's cabinet intended to resign from their positions but were told not to take the drastic measure by the party leader Megawati Soekarnoputri.
In the Feb. 14 presidential election, the PKB and NasDem backed the bid of former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan.
Bureaucratic Reform Minister Abdullah Azwar Anas, who is also a member of the PDI-P, claimed that there was nothing political about Yasonna's and Risma's absence from the iftar dinner. "They probably have other events to attend," he was quoted by Antara as saying.