JAKARTA (Reuters) – Wearing military fatigues and black combat boots, the newly-appointed cabinet of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto began a mountain retreat on Friday, in an unconventional bond-building exercise involving more than 100 members of his new government.
Ministers and their deputies donned caps and camouflage outfits and stood in salute at a parade ground of a military academy in Central Java province to hear briefings from Prabowo, a former special forces commander who was sworn-in as Indonesia’s eighth president on Sunday.
“We must work in the same rhythm for the same goals. The government doesn’t work alone, but as a team,” Prabowo said, according to a statement from his office, which shared images of the retreat, during which ministers will be sleeping in tents, with air-conditioning.
One image showed ministers stood in lines, lunging forward during stretching exercises.
“The point of all work is discipline, loyalty to the nation of Indonesia,” 73-year-old Prabowo said in one video, drawing applause from his cabinet.
Details of what the three-day camp will entail have been scant, but Prabowo plans to lead exercises and discuss good governance and corruption prevention with his cabinet, which is Indonesia’s biggest in decades with 48 ministers and their 56 deputies.
The lineup is a diverse grouping that includes politicians, technocrats, former military officers and a religious leader, with ages ranging from 34 to 77, with most members in their 50s and 60s.
Former defence minister Prabowo won the presidency in February’s election by a big margin at what was his third attempt and the camp is reminiscent of his early days in the military, in which he served for nearly three decades.
Gerindra, his political party, has organised similar events at Prabowo’s spacious Hambalang estate south of Jakarta.
Videos posted on Instagram on Thursday showed ministers smiling and posing for selfies on their way to the camp in Magelang aboard a Lockheed Martin Super Hercules aircraft.
One showed relieved-looking ministers applauding happily as the aircraft landed.
“It’s great,” said agrarian affairs minister, Nusron Wahid, while holding prayer beads in a video posted by a fellow minister.
(Reporting by Stanley Widianto; Editing by Martin Petty)
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