On 15 September, president-elect Joko Widodo stated that his cabinet would have 34 members, with 18 coming from professional backgrounds and 16 from political parties in his coalition.

The cabinet was due to be announced on Wednesday 22 October, and a stage had been prepared at Jakarta's Tanjung Priok harbour, but this event was cancelled at the last minute.

Another reason for the delayed announcement was his decision involve the Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) to ensure that prospective ministers did not have poor track records with regards to human rights or corruption.

One candidate for the post of co-ordinating minister for security affairs, Wiranto was seen as having a problematic human rights record, and was not included in the final line up.

[12] A third reshuffle occurred on 17 January 2018, replacing Khofifah Indar Parawansa (who resigned) with Idrus Marham and Teten Masduki with Moeldoko.