Last night, the Minister of State Secretary Pratikno, who is also one of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s trusted aides, announced the President’s decision to dismiss the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Arcandra Tahar and name the Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law & Security affairs as acting Minister of ESDM. And quickly after the announcement was made, rumors spread that Johan Budi Sapto Prabowo would be appointed as the new Minister of ESDM.

Johan accompanied Pratikno when the latter announced Jokowi’s decision last night. But some said that that was nothing special for Johan was merely doing his job as the President’s Spokesperson. But the rumor is still worth mentioning.

Johan, 49 years old, is another one of Jokowi’s trusted aides. Prior to becoming the President’s Spokesperson, Johan was commissioner of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). He ended his term as acting KPK commissioner on December 16, 2015. He was previously appointed by Jokowi along with two other acting commissioners—Taufiequrrachman Ruki and Indriyanto Senoadji—to replace Bambang Widjojanto, Abraham Samad, and Busyro Muqooddas in February 18, 2015, in the midst of Budi Gunawan saga.

Johan officially resigned from the KPK on December 22, 2015, after 12 years of service. He joined the KPK in 2003, a year after the KPK was established, as Director of Education & Public Service. Three years later, he became the KPK’s spokesperson and held the position until 2015. He was appointed as KPK’s deputy of prevention in October 2014 while remaining KPK’s spokesperson. Johan was a journalist and editor at Tempo prior to joining the KPK. It’s also worth mentioning that he earned his bachelor’s degree in Gas & Petrochemical Engineering from the University of Indonesia’s (UI) School of Engineering in 1992.

But there are some influential figures surrounding the President such as Luhut, AM Hendropriyono (former head of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN)), Surya Paloh (the chairman of Nasdem Party), Megawati Soekarnoputri (the chairwoman of PDI-P), Setya Novanto (the chairman of Golkar), and, of course, Vice President Jusuf Kalla. Each of them may propose their own preference to the President.

For example, Luhut and Novanto may propose their trusted aide Darmawan Prasodjo a.k.a. Darmo, who is also the Deputy I at the President’s Staff office. Darmo is also a PDI-P politician. He was a PDI-P lawmaker candidate in the 2014 legislative election. He was also a part of Jokowi-Kalla’s national campaign team. Darmo was recently mentioned as the person Arcandra nominated for becoming the new head of the SKKMigas to replace Amien Sunaryadi.

PDI-P, meanwhile, will once again propose Pramono Anung, now the Cabinet Secretary, or Wahyu Sakti Trenggono, former Treasurer of PAN who is also close to PDI-P. Kalla, Hendropriyono, and Paloh might have other candidates in mind. Some names that were once in the realm of candidates considered were Darwin Silalahi, Poltak Sitanggang, Karen Agustiawan, Arie Soemarno, Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Kurtubi, and Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas. But at the time, all of them were not convincing enough for Jokowi, who eventually ended up choosing Sudirman Said, Arcandra’s predecessor.

Some have suggested the idea of Jokowi reappointing Sudirman as Minister of ESDM. But knowing Sudirman’s bad relationship with Luhut following the Freeport scandal, bringing back Sudirman into the cabinet might be counterproductive. So who will Jokowi listen to this time, Luhut, Hendropriyono, Paloh, Kalla, Megawati, Novanto? Or will the President choose someone from his own inner circle? Considering the grave error in appointing Arcandra’s, Jokowi should’ve learned the importance of conducting a proper verification process and background check.

By Haryanto Suharman

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