Jakarta. The government has denied that it planned on merging the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) into the sovereign wealth fund Danantara after the latest cabinet reshuffle, although Indonesia chose to leave that option open.

In his third-ever cabinet shake-up, President Prabowo Subianto removed Erick Thohir from his years-long post as the SOE minister. Prabowo picked Erick, who used to own the Inter Milan football club, to be the sports and youth affairs minister. The move immediately put the SOE Ministry in limbo, especially now that all state-run businesses are under Danantara’s command. Asked about the possible Danantara-SOE Ministry merger, State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi told the press that the government was not looking to do so -- at least for the time being.

“No, not yet [for such plans]. … Danantara is in the process of improving our SOEs’ management and operations. If in the process we feel that we need to make some changes to the ministry, we’ll see,” Prasetyo told the press on the margins of the inauguration ceremony in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The SOE Ministry has three deputy ministers: Kartika Wirjoatmodjo, Aminuddin Ma’ruf, and Dony Oskaria. Danantara has Dony as its chief operating officer. Prasetyo admitted that Prabowo would soon pick an acting SOE minister, while confirming the likelihood that it would be one of those three to fill in the post. “And we are still looking for someone to be the definitive SOE minister,” Prasetyo said.

In a brief press statement after assuming his new role, Erick refused to comment much on Danantara. Asked if the ministry would be under Danantara, Erick only responded: “I don’t know about that, I don’t know.”

Since its founding, Danantara has made some major overhauls of state businesses. This includes removing bonuses for the companies’ commissioners. Plans are even underway to merge the flag carrier Garuda Indonesia with Pelita Air, the aviation subsidiary of the energy giant Pertamina.

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