JAKARTA – President Joko Widodo has inaugurated Budi Arie Setiadi as Minister of Communication and Informatics and named five vice ministers in State Palace today (17/7). Budi Arie replaces Johnny G. Plate who is caught in the base transceiver station (BTS) tower corruption case.

The President also inaugurates several other names to fill in the position of vice ministers, such as Nezar Patria as Vice Minister of Communication and Informatics, Paiman Raharjo as Vice Minister of Villages, Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration, Rosan Roeslani as Vice Minister of State-Owned Enterprises, Pahala Manusry as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Saiful R. Dasuki as Vice Minister of Religious Affairs.

Budi Arie Setiadi is known as Chief of Projo, the supporter group for Jokowi in 2014 and 2019 election. It is also believed that he has conducted a political manoeuvre in which he lists several potential presidential candidates through the result of the People’s Discussion of Jokowi’s Partisans announced in May 2023.

Prior to becoming the Minister of Communication and Informatics, Setiadi was formerly the Vice Minister of Villages, Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration in the Kabinet Indonesia Maju (KIM) 2019-2024.

Meanwhile, Nezar Patria, the newly assigned Vice Minister of Communication and Informatics, was formerly the Special Staff V of the Communication Division of Ministry of SOE. Before entering the cabinet, Patria used to be a journalist in D&R, Tempo, Viva, CNN Indonesia, and the Jakarta Post. (LK/ZH)