President Prabowo Subianto carried out another cabinet reshuffle on Monday, the 14th of September, which marks the sixth cabinet reshuffle since assuming the presidency in October 2024.
In this latest reshuffle, Subianto replaced the Finance Minister, a position previously held by Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa since the 8th of September, 2025.
Sadewa was presumably dismissed on the same day he was chairing a working meeting with Committee IV of the Regional Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Daerah Republik Indonesia or DPD RI). During the meeting, he received a call from someone he referred to as “Bapak” (Sir), after which he excused himself to leave the room. The meeting was temporarily suspended afterwards for several minutes.
The exact conversation taking place during the phone call, as of this writing, has yet to be publicly disclosed, though it is suspected that the phone call was made by the higher-ups to inform Sadewa that he was no longer serving as Finance Minister.
Later in the afternoon, Subianto officially inaugurated Suahasil Nazara as the new Finance Minister, replacing Sadewa. Nazara is an economist who previously served as Indonesia’s Deputy Finance Minister from 2019 to 2026 and worked as a lecturer and professor at the University of Indonesia. Additionally, he had served as the Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency at the Indonesian Ministry of Finance since 2016.
Nazara’s inauguration took place pursuant to Presidential Decree Number 97/P of 2026. The decree stipulated the dismissal and appointment of the Finance Minister for the Red and White Cabinet. During the inauguration ceremony, Subianto read the oath of office, which was then repeated by Nazara. Afterwards, Nazara signed the official record of the oath-taking.
This sequence of events caught the media and Indonesian public by surprise due to its rapid transition in the top leadership of the Indonesian Ministry of Finance. While Sadewa was still technically carrying out official duties as Finance Minister in parliament, the inauguration process for his successor was already underway at the State Palace (Istana Negara).
Nazara divulged that he had only received notification from the State Palace on Monday morning to prepare for the inauguration ceremony scheduled for the afternoon.
“Regarding the process, I was informed this morning to get ready for the inauguration this afternoon,” he told the press after the ceremony.
Nazara also noted that Subianto had instructed him to safeguard the health and credibility of state finances, particularly the State Budget (Anggaran Pendapatan dan Belanja Negara or APBN).
“The specific directive from the President is to safeguard state finances—meaning maintaining their health and upholding their credibility,” he explained.
On Monday night, Sadewa continued drawing public attention after posting a cryptic message on his personal TikTok account, saying, “Are you ready yet?” The post featured a photo of Sadewa smiling and wearing batik attire, accompanied by DJiamputh and Andi Mbendol’s hip hop track “Wasap Mamen” as its background music. The content quickly went viral, garnering over nine million views and drawing tens of thousands of comments from netizens curious about the hidden meaning behind his message.
During his tenure as Finance Minister, Sadewa sparked several controversies. Shortly after being appointed Finance Minister last year, he drew attention for his comments regarding the “17+8 People’s Demands” movement, as he remarked that the demands were voiced by only a small segment of the public and predicted they would soon subside if Indonesia’s economy could grow within the 7–8% range. His remark sparked criticism afterwards, as it was perceived as downplaying the public’s demands.
Sadewa also came under the spotlight regarding the debt associated with the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway, known as Whoosh, as the Indonesian government planned to transfer controlling ownership of the project from the consortium led by PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) to a government entity. This issue sparked controversy afterwards, as it raised questions about which party would ultimately bear the project’s debt burden and what the potential implications for state finances might be.