Ministers Must Be Ready for Reshuffle: Presidential Staff

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Chief Presidential Staff Teten Masduki said that all ministers and other state officials must be prepared to be reshuffled or replaced anytime.

"All ministers must be ready (to be reshuffled) anytime," Masduki stated, after attending a coordination meeting on malnutrition here, on Wednesday.

Masduki made the remark in response to the rumors in the media on the fourth cabinet reshuffle in the current administration of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

"I have no idea about it, and so far, no discussion has been made concerning the reshuffle rumors. The matter is the presidents right," he noted.

Besides stressing that all ministers must always be ready for any reshuffle, Masduki also explained about the focus of accelerating development based on the directives of Jokowi, which covered improvement of the governments performance and of economic growth and stability amid global downturns.

"I do not know when the reshuffle will be carried out, but what I know is that the president continues to push his ministers to perform better. Regarding performance, it is very dynamical because people have high expectation. Moreover, Indonesia has many problems. When one problem is handled here, another one emerges there," the chief presidential staff stated.

Therefore, Masduki revealed that the reshuffle rumors did not disturb the performance of the government. Regardless of thinking when the reshuffle will be carried out, the cabinet ministers must choose to focus on carrying out their respective tasks to develop the nations prosperity.

"No, the ministers do not think about it (reshuffle)," he noted.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla has also been asked to provide a confirmation regarding the fourth reshuffle issue, but he refused to comment. (WDY)