THE recent crash of AirAsia flight QZ8501 catapulted F. Henry Bambang Soelistyo from obscurity into the limelight. As chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) he was much in the news for his quick, decisive and transparent action in coordinating operations involving different organizations from different countries.

RETNO Marsudi is the first woman in Indonesia to be foreign minister. In today's complex world, she has an array of issues to manage on the nation's behalf: migrant workers, maritime and land border negotiations with neighboring countries, Indonesia's role in international fora and recently, as instructed by President Joko Widodo, that diplomats must also function as marketeers.

PHOTOGRAPHS of elementary school students hang on the walls of the Ki Hajar Dewantara Building of the Elementary and Secondary Education and Culture Ministry in Jakarta. Most of them show children in remote areas, wearing shabby uniforms but genuine smiles on their faces. The photographs were put up at the request of the new minister, Anies Baswedan, who asked that they be hung everywhere, including in all meeting rooms. "So that when we meet, their faces will remind us that we work for them," said Anies, in his office last week.

FAISAL Basri moved his fingers over his cellphone monitor to find the message he wanted. It was from a reporter, who said: "Many are pessimistic [over your appointment] because you are seen as a crony of Kuntoro Mangkusubroto." This did not sit well with Faisal. "I don't need this," he said. The Kuntoro mentioned in the message is the former chairman of the President's Delivery Unit for Development, Monitoring and Oversight (UKP4).

IN a small and cozy dining room of a house at the Widya Chandra ministers' residential complex in South Jakarta, Bambang Brodjonegoro dispelled the stereotype of a finance minister: cold, terse and super-cautious, when talking to members of the media. At a dinner with national media chief editors, Bambang spoke in a relaxed manner about his new position. "The Finance Ministry must actively push for a maritime vision and tariff harmonization," he said.

ONE month after he was appointed coordinating minister for maritime affairs and fisheries, Indroyono Soesilo's working hours have stretched late into the night. Perhaps it's because he is, so far, the only official coordinating minister. "I'm the only who has received his marching orders, the other coordinating ministers are still awaiting theirs," he said when he met the Tempo team two weeks ago.

Indroyono's office, located at the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) building in Central Jakarta, is not unfamiliar to him. From 1997 to 1999 he worked there as the BPPT deputy director in charge of natural resources. Today, he occupies the huge office of the former BPPT chairman, Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, the last vice president in the New Order era and the first president to launch the reformasi era. "No one dares to occupy this office, they're all afraid," he joked, in explaining how he ended up there.