Jakarta. Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa admitted Tuesday that his decision to reshuffle hundreds of his ministry’s officials was among the reasons he got kicked out of the cabinet.

A day earlier, President Prabowo Subianto ousted Purbaya in a surprise cabinet reshuffle. His deputy Suahasil Nazara took over the ministerial job. At the handover ceremony, Purbaya cut his final speech short, only thanking everyone “for the past one year”. 

In a doorstop interview, the press bombarded Purbaya with questions on whether he had lost the job because he had reassigned hundreds of officials into different roles just last week. The decision had affected 350 officials in echelon 3, or the mid-ranking tier.  The same goes for 50 higher-ranking officials.

“Yes, it was partly because of that [internal shuffling],” Purbaya replied.

Purbaya, however, said that the status of the reassigned officials – including whether they will stick to their old roles – will hinge on Suahasil. 

According to Purbaya, the firing had nothing to do with his policymaking, saying that he had only been following Prabowo’s instructions. He claimed that it was also unrelated to his plan to have the sovereign wealth fund Danantara remit Rp 120 trillion (almost $6.8 billion) to the government. He went on to say that he had been on good terms with his subordinates.

“But no, there is no such thing as [internal] friction. It was up to the president," Purbaya said. 

Senior economist Bhima Yudhistira attributed the exit to “poor internal coordination”, citing rifts related to the mass reshuffling with customs chief Djaka Budi Utama and tax head Bimo Wijayanto. Purbaya had previously signaled plans to reassign the echelon 1 officials or the highest-ranking senior executives.

Suahasil plans to "look into" his predecessor’s decision on the internal shake-up.

“We are a big ministry of 77,000 employees. We are working across the archipelago to grow and stabilize the economy,” Suahasil told the press. 

Where Will Purbaya Go?

It remains unclear where Purbaya will be heading now. He admitted that going back as a minister would be unlikely, citing he had just gotten fired. He doubted Prabowo would ask him to lead the upcoming international financial center. Purbaya also expressed "no interest" in returning to the government.

“I will just fish in my backyard,” Purbaya joked.

Purbaya’s short-lived ministerial job began last September when Prabowo replaced the well-respected finance minister Sri Mulyani.

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