Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto is planning to send elected regional heads, including governor-elects, on a retreat -- similar to what his ministers went on at the start of their term.

Just a few days after Prabowo announced his Merah Putih (‘Red and White’) cabinet back in October, the retired army general sent his ministers on a military-style retreat at the Military Academy in Magelang. The archipelagic Indonesia has just declared the regional election winners. Jakarta Governor-Elect Pramono Anung and his ticket mate Rano Karno will officially take their oath of office on Feb. 7. However, the inauguration of some regional election winners have to be postponed to March amidst disputes against the results.

According to Gerindra Party’s senior official Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, Prabowo wants to brief all regional leaders to make sure that they share the same vision with the central government.

“There are plans [for a retreat]. But the idea [behind this retreat] is to make sure that the regional head-elects share the same vision. So they can carry out the central government’s programs evenly across the archipelago for the sake of the people in the regions,” Dasco said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

“Instilling that sense of unity is important. The elected regional leaders come from different political parties,” Dasco said.

Chief Legal Affairs Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra had previously dropped hints of the retreat for the regional leaders. “Mr. President wants to gather all regional leaders just like what he did with the ministers in Magelang,” Yusril said in Jakarta last week.

However, Yusril said that he still had no idea about where and when the retreat would take place.

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