Opposition leader Subianto to join cabinet

JAKARTA, Oct 21, (Agencies): Indonesian opposition leader Prabowo Subianto said on Monday he had been asked by President Joko Widodo to join the cabinet to help in the area of defence, and the former general said he had accepted the invitation.

“Today we were formally asked and we are able to help,” Prabowo, who was Widodo’s challenger in April’s bitterly fought election, told reporters after meeting Widodo at the presidential palace.

He did not confirm his position in the cabinet, but media reports have suggested Prabowo would serve as defence minister.

Meanwhile, Gojek CEO and cofounder Nadiem Makarim said on Monday he had resigned to join Indonesia’s new cabinet, and the ride-hailing and payments company said two senior executives would jointly take over running operations of the $10 billion firm.

President Andre Soelistyo and the other co-founder Kevin Aluwi would be the joint CEOs, Gojek said. It noted in a statement it had “planned for this possibility and there would no disruption to our business.”

Makarim, 35 and a graduate of Brown University and Harvard Business School, told reporters at the presidential palace in Jakarta it was a “a big honour to be able to join the cabinet.” He said his specific role would be announced by President Joko Widodo later in the week.

Some economic analysts said they were surprised by Makarim’s departure, which comes in the heat of Gojek’s battle with Singapore-based rival Grab. Its biggest shareholder Softbank said in July it will invest $2 billion in Indonesia through Grab, taking on Gojek in its home market.

Having evolved from a ride-hailing service founded in 2010 to a one-stop app via which users can make online payments and order food and services such as massages, Gojek is now targeting a larger slice of the Southeast Asian market, where Grab currently dominates ride-sharing.

Outside Indonesia, where it recently launched a “Netflix” style video-streaming service, Gojek has also expanded to Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines. An expansion to Malaysia is planned.

“We will make an announcement on what this news means for Gojek within the next few days,” the company said, referring to Makarim, who has been the face of the tech startup.

The Indonesian company, valued at $10 billion, raised over $1 billion earlier this year from backers including Alphabet’s Google and Chinese tech giants Tencent and JD.

Google, which has invested $500 million in Gojek, declined to comment on Makarim’s departure, while Tencent and JD did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A senior executive at a private equity investor in Gojek said it was a positive move.

Sworn

Widodo was sworn in Sunday for his second and final five-year term with pledges to champion democracy and take bolder actions against poverty and entrenched corruption in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation.

Known for his down-to-earth style, Widodo opted for an austere ceremony at the heavily guarded Parliament in contrast to the festive parade and horse-drawn carriage at his first inauguration, a relaxed affair where he was cheered on by thousands of waving supporters.

A knife attack by an Islamic militant couple against his security minister on Oct. 10 prompted a security crackdown for Widodo’s second inauguration. Army troops and police, along with armored vehicles, firetrucks and ambulances, were deployed across Jakarta and major roads were closed. On his way to the ceremony, Widodo left his convoy with some of his security escorts and shook the hands of supporters, who waved national flags, yelled his name and called him “bapak,” or father.

After taking his oath before the Quran, the Muslim holy book, in front of lawmakers and foreign dignitaries, Widodo laid out ambitious targets to help Indonesia join the ranks of the world’s developed nations by its centennial in 2045.

He said in his inauguration speech that he expects poverty – which afflicts close to 10 percent of Indonesia’s nearly 270 million people - to be just about wiped out and the country’s annual GDP to reach $7 trillion by then.

“For those who are not serious, I’ll be merciless. I would definitely fire people,” Widodo warned.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan were among the dignitaries attending. President Donald Trump sent Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao for the ceremony in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy and a member of the G-20 bloc of nations.

Indonesia is a bastion of democracy in Southeast Asia, a diverse and economically bustling region of authoritarian regimes, police states and nascent democracies.

After decades of dictatorship under President Suharto, the country was convulsed by political, ethnic and religious unrest in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Since then, it has consolidated its democratic transition. While most of the country remains poor and inequality is rising, it is home to a rapidly expanding middle class.

Popularly known as Jokowi, Widodo is the son of a furniture maker who grew up with his family in a rented bamboo shack on the banks of a floodprone river in Solo city on Java island. He is the first president from outside the country’s super rich and often corrupt, political, business and military elite.

Widodo, 58, presents himself as a man of the people, often emphasizing his humble roots. His popular appeal helped him win elections over the past 14 years for mayor of Solo, governor of Jakarta and twice for president. In a reflection of his popularity, he has nearly 26 million followers on Instagram and more than 12 million on Twitter.