Lembong was the Indonesia representative in a group of global institutional investors overseeing trillions of dollars who visited Jakarta after Widodo took office past year.
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Indonesian President Joko Widodo put two experienced technocrats into key economic management posts on Wednesday in a cabinet reshuffle designed to reassure investors anxious about a policy drift that has allowed growth to slip to a six-year low.
Former Governor of Bank Indonesia Darmin Nasution will replace the current Minister for Economic Affairs Sofyan Djalil.
The president, who took office in October amid high expectatons for reforms, has been under pressure from politicians and the public to replace his economic team, which has been criticized for perceived underperformance.
The news comes as concern has grown over new measures to illegalize insults against the president in Indonesia.
“Tom’s appointment is excellent”, John Riady, a director at Indonesian retail-to-property conglomerate Lippo Group, told Reuters in an email.
Four other ministers dropped were Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Indroyono Soesilo, Trade Minister Rachmat Gobel and National Development Planning Minister Andrinof Chaniago.
Growth fell to a six-year low of 4.67 percent in the second quarter of 2015, and Indonesia’s government has come under criticism for a series of policy flip-flops and a lack of organization.
Lembong’s experience with government institutions from his time at the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency – where he helped revive the banking sector after the 1998 Asian financial collapse – will serve him well in his new role, said Joel Hogarth, partner at law firm Ashurst LLP.
Supporters said the former governor of Jakarta would root out corruption, promote people based on merit rather than connections, and reignite the stalling economy. Personnel shuffles will need to be accompanied by policy shifts as well as better execution, coordination and empowerment. It lost further ground on Tuesday and Wednesday after China announced a devaluation of its tightly controlled yuan.
Luhut Panjaitan, Joko’s chief of staff and a figure close to the president, was appointed to the post.
The only clear political appointee was Pramono Anung, who is from Widodo’s party, as cabinet secretary.
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Even before his appointment to the cabinet, Lembong advised key government officials on infrastructure financing and accompanied state enterprises minister Rini Soemarno on a trip to Beijing earlier this year, people with knowledge of the matter said.
