Jakarta – Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin held a private meeting with Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR) Sufmi Dasco Ahmad ahead of President Prabowo Subianto's announcement of a fresh cabinet reshuffle.
The two senior politicians held the meeting inside the House compound on Tuesday night in what Sjafrie described as "a display of unity."
"So this is to show solidity between the legislative and executive branches of the government. This is the meaning of my meeting with Pak Dasco," Sjafrie told reporters after the meeting on Tuesday.
Sjafrie, a former Indonesian Military (TNI) general and a close confidant to President Prabowo, has recently been appointed as an interim coordinating minister for security and political affairs replacing Budi Gunawan.
The decision to appoint Sjafrie as a senior security minister, on top of daily duty as Defense Minister came only days after Indonesia was rocked by deadly protests over unemployment and lawmakers' perks in late August.
The protest, which began as a demonstration against the decision to provide housing allowances for House members was also marked by looting and ransacking of private home of senior lawmakers.
While some major security decisions in the wake of the protest were made by Sjafrie, Dasco, who has long been a key enforcer of President Prabowo's agenda, has apparently been absent from public view.
Dasco's prolonged absence sparked speculation that he has been engaged in a feud with Sjafrie over authority in implementing some of President's signature policies such as free meal programs, free schools for the poor and the village cooperative initiative.
Shortly after the meeting on Tuesday, Dasco posted a video from the meeting on his official Instagram account, showing him sharing a moment of levity with the Defense Minister.
"We had a warm conversation before I escorted him to join a meeting with Commission I," Dasco wrote in the caption, referring to the House commission overseeing defense and security.
On Wednesday, President Prabowo is expected to announce a fresh cabinet shake-up in which he is expected to inaugurate the new coordinating security minister and the sports minister.