Jakarta. The Democratic Party recently said that they would not intervene with President-Elect Prabowo Subianto’s cabinet makeup process, saying that it would be up to the former army general to decide how many Democrats would become ministers in the upcoming cabinet. 

Democrats reportedly would get a ministerial quota of three to four. Prabowo is reportedly planning to expand the current cabinet which currently has 30 ministers and four coordinating ministers. He intends to have a 44-strong cabinet. 

Herman Khaeron, an executive for the Democrats, said that his party would not push Prabowo for cabinet representation. 

“The decision is entirely in Mr. Prabowo’s hands. We don’t wish to interrupt his thoughts when he decides the number [of the ministers] and the criteria [of the people]. So we will just wait for his announcement,” Herman said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

It is also Prabowo’s prerogative to decide on who gets to be his ministers. The law also states that the president gets to decide how many ministries he should have. 

Prabowo is reportedly eyeing to establish the so-called “zaken” cabinet, a term referring to a cabinet of ministers who are experts in their fields rather than politicians. Herman said the Democratic Party would give their full support for the establishment of a zaken cabinet, while saying that having experts could enable a better delivery of Prabowo’s programs.

According to Herman, it is also up to the Democratic Party’s upper assembly chair Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and its chairman Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (AHY) to decide the names of the cadres that would be Prabowo’s ministers. AHY is currently the spatial planning minister and is the only one who represents the Democratic Party in the cabinet. AHY also only got his ministerial job not long ago in a February cabinet reshuffle.