Widodo Ministers Vault Over Fences in Drive for Change

A fence stood in the way of Hanif Dhakiri, Indonesias new manpower minister, as he checked on practices at a recruitment business in Jakarta. When the door wasnt opened, Dhakiri vaulted the barrier.

Dhakiri found an inhuman shelter crammed with workers, and promptly shut the company down for breaking regulations, he said in an interview with Bloomberg TV Indonesia last week. Such are the lengths President Joko Widodo has his cabinet going to to overcome corruption, bureaucracy and wasteful spending that weigh on Southeast Asias largest economy.

Since starting work on Oct. 27, his ministers have promised to do his bidding, cut fuel subsidies and overhaul permits for investors. Widodo, known as Jokowi, has told leaders of Indonesias regions to start financing development or face penalties, as he seeks to revitalize an economy that slowed to its weakest in five years last quarter.

Jokowi has targeted small changes that add up to a pretty interesting change in approach and that shows momentum, said Paul Rowland, an independent political analyst in Jakarta. Theyre all practical things. That does augur well. And theyre happening quickly.

The moves show Jokowi, a former furniture businessman, is starting to gain traction on his election promises, even as challenges remain from the opposition gaining control of parliament to a lack of power within his own political party.

Foreign fund investors have sold almost $1 billion of Indonesian stocks in the past three months as they scale back expectations that Jokowi, the former Jakarta governor, will be able to deliver reforms.

Among Jokowis next steps are to dismantle fuel subsidies that consume a 10th of the national budget, a change that has eluded his predecessors.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Sofyan Djalil has said a fuel price move will come this month, yet the magnitude and timing is yet to be decided. Jokowi, speaking to business leaders in Beijing today, said he wants to channel the money from the subsidies to build dams, ports and railways.

On Nov. 3, the government started distributing cards that will eventually give more than 15 million low-income families access to free health care, as well as education for 160,000 children of school age and cash to soften the effect of higher fuel costs. Success with the card program and significantly reduced subsidies would be a reasonably good start, said Marcus Mietzner, an associate professor at the Australian National University in Canberra.

His rapid launch of key programs and a number of PR-attracting actions by some of his ministers have distracted from the less-than-revolutionary line-up of his cabinet, Mietzner said.

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Widodo Ministers Vault Over Fences in Drive for Change