Jokowi Sets Up Team for a Smooth Presidential Transition

Jakarta Globe, Novy Lumanauw & Markus Sihaloho, Aug 04, 2014

President-Elect Joko Widodo, with raised hand, talks with his transition team, from
 left to right: Rini M.S. Soewandi, Anies Baswedan, Akbar Faisal and Hasto Kristianto,
in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Aug. 4, 2014. (Antara Photo/Widodo S. Jusuf)

Jakarta. President-Elect Joko Widodo on Monday established a transition team that would smooth the transfer of power in government from the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who steps down from office in October.

“We [open] this office because we have to prepare [for everything], even though I said earlier that we had to respect the process at the Constitutional Court,” Joko was quoted as saying by state-run Antara news agency.

Joko’s preparation comes even as rival candidate Prabowo Subianto on July 25 filed a case with the Constitutional Court. Prabowo challenged the official result of the General Elections Commission (KPU) that showed him with 46.85 percent of the vote from the July 9 election, compared to 53.15 percent for Joko. The court will make a final decision on Aug. 22.

Joko said the office — which will be located at Jalan Situbondo, Menteng in Central Jakarta — will host a team of experts and officials to help him prepare the upcoming state budget as well as establish communication with the current administration.

“The team will elaborate the president’s and the vice president’s vision and mission into policies, plans and programs,” Joko said.

The transition team will be led by former Industry and Trade Minister Rini M.S. Soewandi. She will be assisted by four deputies: international relations and security analyst Andi Widjajanto, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Hasto Kristianto, education expert Anies Baswedan and National Democratic Party (Nasdem) politician Akbar Faisal.

The five-member team, in turn, will be assisted by some experts who will be acting as advisors.

Hasto said that they were already hard at work discussing policies and programs to help fulfill Joko’s key campaign promises. The team has also assigned staff into dedicated working committees on agriculture, maritime, public housing, economy, education, health and public transportation.

“There are strategic things [that are to be discussed] like the 2015 budget plan … as well as the architecture of [Joko's] cabinet,” Hasto said.

The PDI-P politician, however, stressed that the office will not deliberate on who will be included in Joko’s upcoming cabinet, saying that filling ministerial and strategic posts will be left entirely to Joko.

Although he lauded Joko’s intention for a smooth transition, Yudhoyono was quick to criticize the move as premature, pointing to Prabowo’s challenge of the election result.

“Please be patient! Wait until the Constitutional Court officially decides the president and vice president-elect of the 2014 presidential election. Afterward, I will be proactive in communicate with the president-elect,” Yudhoyono said at the State Palace on Monday.

Still, Yudhoyono — whose second five-year term ends on Oct. 20 — said he appreciated Joko’s decision to establish a transition team and claimed it as his own idea.

“The transition idea, power handover from the old to the new president, from the old to the new government, is one of my ideas that I had announced some months ago. That’s why it’s good,” the president said. Yudhoyono went on to say that there had been no good transition process when he succeeded Megawati Soekarnoputri as president in 2004.

“We’ll change that political tradition so that it will be good for the upcoming government, the next president and the Indonesian people,” Yudhoyono said.