Indonesian President announces new Cabinet line-up

The president is expected to announce his second cabinet reshuffle in less than two years later on Wednesday, two other sources close to the matter told Reuters late Tuesday.

In 2010, Ms Indrawati joined the World Bank after serving as both Indonesia’s chief economic minister and finance minister under president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Human rights activists have condemned the appointment, saying there is evidence the retired chief of Indonesia’s armed forces oversaw human rights abuses during Indonesia’s withdrawal from East Timor in 1999.

Wiranto replaced Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, an ally of Jokowi who, though a former general, had opened a landmark symposium earlier this year into the 1965 atrocities that historians estimate killed half a million people.

Perhaps the biggest shock is the return of Sri Mulyani Indrawati, managing director of the World Bank, to her old role as the country’s finance minister.

“It is a setback”, Andreas Harsono, Indonesia researcher for Human Rights Watch, said.

“The message might be that President Widodo is not going to be as progressive as before in pursuing his human rights agenda”.

East Timor formally became independent in 2002. He has never faced any sanctions over the indictment.

Observers suggest Panjaitan caused concern among the military elite and Islamic groups by taking unprecedented steps to probe a bloody 1960s purge of communists and their supporters.

Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung defended Mr Wiranto, describing him as “tested and experienced”. Sofyan would be given the post of Agriculture and Spatial Planning Minister, replacing Ferry Mursyidan Baldan.

“We have to strengthen the national economy to face the challenges of the global economy, which is slowing down and is rife with competition”, Widodo said in a speech announcing the new cabinet members at the presidential palace in the capital.

Indrawati, who has a Ph.D in economics from the University of IL and is not a member of a political party, won praise for successfully managing Indonesia’s economy through the 2008 global financial crisis.

Wiranto, who goes by a single name, has been appointed as the nation’s Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs.

The Jakarta stock market was up 1.2 per cent following news of her comeback.