Jakarta. Former Inter Milan club owner Erick Thohir officially became Indonesia’s sports and youth affairs minister on Wednesday, thus leaving the top seat of the Ministry for State-Owned Enterprises or SOEs vacant.

President Prabowo Subianto made another major cabinet shake-up on Wednesday, just a week after the September 8 reshuffle. Ex-Former Sports Minister Dito Ariotedjo had already stepped down in the earlier shake-up. In October 2019, Prabowo’s predecessor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo chose Erick -- a seasoned businessman -- to lead the SOE Ministry. Erick had been keeping the ministerial post since then.

The president’s decision to pick Erick was not a surprise. Erick has been chairing the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI), the governing body for the well-beloved sports, for the past two years. His chairmanship has seen countless foreign-born players gaining Indonesian citizenship, enabling them to play for the national team. Some public figures who were previously rumored to be the next sports minister included celebrity Raffi Ahmad as well as Prabowo’s niece and ex-lawmaker Rahayu Saraswati. A few hours before the inauguration ceremony, Dito uploaded a photo of himself and Erick, alluding that the latter would be his successor. 

"Sometimes people forget that the ministry handles both sports and youth affairs. ... Our country is home to 131 million young people. They will serve as the foundation of our nation in the future. That's why we have to develop their capabilities so they can compete globally," Erick told reporters after the inauguration ceremony.

"And we hope sports can be something that unifies the nation."

As of writing, it remains unclear who is now at the SOE Ministry’s helm, although Erick said that it would have an ad interim head for the time being.

Indonesia already has all its state-run companies under the sovereign fund Danantara’s command. The agency has even rolled out some rules that sparked some major changes within government-owned businesses, including removing bonuses for the board of commissioners. Investment Minister Rosan Roeslani currently assumes a dual role of also being Danantara’s chief executive officer.

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