Tenggara Strategics, Jakarta – After dropping the idea of setting up a transition team, president-elect Prabowo Subianto has come up with a so-called synchronization task force comprising entirely of elites from his Gerindra Party. Its job: To synchronize the moves of the incoming and outgoing governments. It's a transition team in all but its name, but it skirts the contentious issue of who should lead it.
The team is currently made up of six people, with expectations it would expand later, and made its public debut last week, meeting with Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati in her office to help her draft the state budget for the year starting on Jan. 1, 2025. The draft budget is to be presented to the House of Representatives in August by outgoing President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, but will be implemented by Prabowo after his inauguration in October.
Gerindra executive chair Sufmi Dasco Ahmad leads the team of fellow Gerindra leaders: secretary-general Ahmad Muzani, treasurer Thomas Djiwandono, vice chairs Budisatrio Djiwandono and Sugiono and Prasetyo Hadi, who heads the party's members and membership committee. The Djiwandono brothers are the sons of former central bank governor Soedradjad Djiwandono, who is married to Prabowo's elder sister.
At a press conference following their meeting, Sri Mulyani introduced the individual members of the synchronization task force, particularly highlighting the central role Thomas played in the meeting. This quickly raised speculation that Prabowo's 52-year-old nephew could be in line for a key economic position in his cabinet.
The debut of the all-Gerindra transition team surprised many parties that helped Prabowo win the presidential race in February, but they quickly allayed any concerns that they might have been left out. The parties also remarked that it was the president-elect's prerogative to take the necessary steps for a smooth transition of power.
In response, Prabowo reassured them that his synchronization team would only discuss technical aspects of the regime change. He was still negotiating the political aspect of forming his new administration with political parties and other interest groups that would be part of his coalition government, he said.
Early discussions on forming a transition team broke down over not only its composition, but also who should lead it. They agreed to disagree and decided to shelve the idea of forming a transition team. Since Prabowo was the incumbent defense minister and many of the same political parties in the Jokowi government would be part of the new administration, they said the changeover would proceed smoothly, even without a transition team.
The introduction of the synchronization team suggests otherwise, however.
Since his election victory was confirmed in May, Prabowo has been facing increasing pressure and competing demands for a share of the power from many groups, including Golkar, the Democratic Party and the National Mandate Party (PAN) and a handful of minor parties that helped him win the presidency.
What's More
Prabowo is meanwhile inviting other parties that supported his election rivals to join his government. The NasDem Party and the National Awakening Party (PKB) have agreed to join, while the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has not decided either way. He needs to offer incentives, usually cabinet seats, in return for the support of opposition parties. Like Jokowi, Prabowo is aiming to build a big tent coalition to ensure control over the House and thereby his legislative agenda.
And then there are the interest groups like Islamic mass organization Nahdlatul Ulama, business associations, the National Police and the Indonesian Military (TNI) making claims on the IOUs they extended to Prabowo in February. Let's not forget that another prominent figure who will also be claiming his rewards is Jokowi, who used his massive popularity to mobilize his supporters to vote for Prabowo and running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka, his 36-year-old son.
To accommodate these demands, Gerindra has submitted a bill to the House to amend the law on ministries to give the president the authority to decide the size of their government. The existing law caps the number of cabinet ministers at 34. If the bill is approved, which is expected before the presidential inauguration in October, Prabowo will have more cards to play.
The introduction of Prabowo's synchronization team, however, reveals tension between the incoming and outgoing presidents. Talks over setting up the transition team reportedly broke down after the presidential palace insisted that Jokowi should lead it. With October fast approaching, we can expect more open discord between the two figures. After Prabowo's inauguration, the dynamics of their relationship is sure to change. Jokowi currently has the upper hand as the incumbent versus Prabowo's status as president-elect. After Oct. 20, Prabowo will be the incumbent and Jokowi a former president. The synchronization team made up entirely of Gerindra leaders may be the first of many independent moves Prabowo will take as he tries to come out of Jokowi's shadow.
What we've heard
An internal source from the Gerindra Party said the task force is handling two issues: politics and economy. The political task force is led by the party's daily chairman Sufmi Dasco Ahmad. Meanwhile, the economic task force is led by Thomas Djiwandono, who is also the party's treasurer. "The task force is responsible for communicating with the current ministers in President Jokowi's cabinet," said a close associate of Prabowo.
This source said among the topics discussed with the outgoing government is adjustment to the draft state budget to help Prabowo implement his work programs. Thomas has actively held meetings with business actors. Last week he accompanied his uncle Hashim Djojohadikusumo in a forum organized by a business association that groups US companies.
The source said the task force is a middle ground approach to the internal dynamics within the Gerindra Party. Several factions within the party are said to be competing to demonstrate their important roles in the transition of power.
Apart from this task force, Prabowo also has a core team consisting of experts in various sectors, including forestry, environment, defense, and economy. This team, according to the source, serves as one of Prabowo's sources of information in formulating future policies. One of the individuals involved in this expert team is the Special Staff to the Defense Minister for Defense Management Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin.
[This content is provided by Tenggara Strategics in collaboration with The Jakarta Post to serve the latest comprehensive and reliable analysis on Indonesia's political and business landscape.]