Jokowi threatens Cabinet with reshuffle

PRESIDENT Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has said he is prepared to take “extraordinary steps”, including a Cabinet reshuffle, if his ministers fail to take the Covid-19 crisis seriously, in a video uploaded to the presidential secretariat’s official YouTube channel.

In the video, apparently shot during a Cabinet meeting on June 18, Jokowi lambasted the ministers for taking the situation too lightly.

“The atmosphere in the last three months and in the next three months should be one of crisis.

“We should not consider (this) to be normal. That is very dangerous. And I still see that many of us see this as normal,” he said.

He urged all ministries to cut through the red tape and accelerate spending to stimulate the economy.

“Once again, do not act as if everything is normal. If you need to issue a ministerial regulation, issue it. If you need a presidential regulation, I will issue it,” he said in the video, which was released by his office on Sunday.

Jokowi cited the state budget for the health sector as an example of the slow spending.

“We have budgeted 75 trillion rupiah (RM22.5bil), but only 1.5% has been disbursed,” he said.

“All the money that’s supposed to be for the people is stuck there.”

He also called on the nation’s health ministry to immediately pay out the financial incentives promised to health workers on the frontlines of the Covid-19 outbreak.

He closed the uncharacteristically fiery address by saying that he was prepared to take extraordinary political and governmental steps to address the current crisis.

“I will take any steps necessary, including extraordinary ones, for our 267 million people,” he said.

“(I might) disband agencies. (I might) reshuffle (the Cabinet). I have considered many options.”

The June 18 meeting was the first Cabinet meeting held face-to-face since the Covid-19 outbreak began in the country, though it was closed to the public and press.