JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network): That Muhammad Lutfi would be fired as trade minister in last week’s Cabinet reshuffle by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo was widely predicted, due to Lutfi’s miserable and highly public failure to stabilise the prices of cooking oil over the past six months.
But the appointment of Zulkifli Hasan, chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN), as the new trade minister has vindicated arguments that Jokowi was not really seeking an experienced professional from the food sector, and simply wanted to strengthen his coalition government instead.
