PRABOWO Subianto – the man widely expected to be Indonesia’s next president – has set his sights on a group of former bankers to be his finance minister, as he seeks technocrats who can secure funding for his campaign promises while upholding fiscal prudence.

The 72-year-old former general, who declared victory at the Feb 14 presidential election, is considering Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin, Deputy State-Owned Enterprises Minister Kartika Wirjoatmodjo, financial regulator chairman Mahendra Siregar and Bank Negara Indonesia president-director Royke Tumilaar as potential contenders, according to people familiar with the matter.

They are seen as most suitable for the role because of their financial expertise as well as effective leadership, said the people who asked not to be named because the discussions are private.

Prabowo is unlikely to involve the finance minister position in any political bargaining, as he sees the post as above politics and requiring acumen in managing the budget, they shared.

The new finance minister will take over from Sri Mulyani Indrawati, the only woman to ever be appointed to the role since Indonesia’s independence in 1945.

The 61-year-old steered South-east Asia’s largest economy through the turmoil caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, embarking on an unprecedented debt monetisation to fund stimulus spending and then reining the budget deficit back within the legal limit a year earlier than promised.

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Whoever ends up in the role would have a massive responsibility to help Prabowo steer Indonesia amid geopolitical risks and supply chain disruptions arising from the ongoing US-China rivalry.

The person would have to maintain fiscal discipline, which has been essential in stabilising the rupiah and assuring foreign investors, while securing enough funding for Prabowo’s big-ticket spending plans.

His spending spree could amount to 460 trillion rupiah (S$39.5 billion), more than the entire 2023 budget deficit.

Prabowo signalled his focus on improving health and education outcomes with a plan to give out free school lunches and milk to more than 80 million children, which he also expects to create employment for women and small businesses.

His election campaign also called for “youth downstreaming” as a way to urge young people to take up higher-paying tech-related jobs.

Discussions to shape Prabowo’s new cabinet are already underway but things are still at an early stage and will only intensify after he is formally declared the winner and president-elect by the elections commission, the people said.

Official results are due by March 20. 

Here’s more on the potential contenders to be finance minister:

Budi Gunadi Sadikin

Appointed as health minister in December 2020, Sadikin, 59, was largely credited for curbing the spread of Covid-19 in Indonesia by tapping international networks and domestic resources to procure tests and vaccines. He was previously deputy minister of state-owned enterprises. 

A nuclear physics graduate from one of Indonesia’s top universities, Bandung Institute of Technology, Sadikin’s private sector career took off at IBM Asia-Pacific.

He was an information technology officer before embarking on a banking career that started at PT Bank Bali and took him to become president-director of Bank Mandiri, the nation’s largest bank by assets. He was president of Indonesia Asahan Aluminium before leaving the private sector for the government.

Royke Tumilaar

Tumilaar also helmed Mandiri from 2019 through 2020 after holding various positions in departments ranging from wholesale and corporate banking to asset management.

He joined the bank in 1998 following the Asian Financial Crisis, after starting his banking career as a credit analyst at Bank Dagang Negara. After departing Mandiri, he joined Bank Negara Indonesia as president-director.

The 59-year-old holds an economics degree from Indonesia’s University of Trisakti and a master’s degree in business finance from the University of Technology Sydney.

Kartika Wirjoatmodjo

Wirjoatmodjo took over from Sadikin as Mandiri’s president-director. Prior to that, he was the chief executive of the Deposit Insurance Corporation and also led Indonesia Infrastructure Finance. In 2019, he was brought in to become deputy minister of state-owned enterprises.

The 50-year-old holds an accounting degree from the country’s top institution University of Indonesia and received his MBA from Erasmus University Rotterdam in 2001.

Mahendra Siregar

Siregar is an economist by training, and no stranger to the finance ministry. He was deputy finance minister under former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono between 2011 and 2013, and was formerly deputy minister for foreign affairs and trade. Siregar was also Indonesia’s ambassador to the US.

Since 2022, Siregar has helmed the Financial Services Authority, which oversees regulations in the banking and capital markets sectors.

The 61-year-old has an economics degree from the University of Indonesia and a master’s degree in the same subject from Australia’s Monash University. BLOOMBERG