That, she says in an interview last week, “has become like a curse” because it overshadows the dismantling of a system under which Chinese, Thai and other foreign companies, with the connivance of rent-seeking local businesspeople, simply transferred their catch to homebound mother ships.

As investors they were meant to process their fish at a designated Indonesian port. But Pudjiastuti says most of the purported processing facilities were empty buildings only there for show, leaving the 10,000 foreign fishing boats to plunder the country’s maritime resources at will.

Putting an end to the practice means the fisheries sector now contributes 5.8 per cent of GDP, double what it was, has bumped up the profits of Indonesian fishermen by 25 per cent, increased fish biomass by 300 per cent and boosted fishery exports from US$3 billion to US$5.6 billion a year.

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But what makes Pudjiastuti especially happy, she says, is that fishermen in far-flung places such as the North Maluku islands on the edge of the western Pacific are now hauling 70-90km of tuna into their two-metre-long boats.

While fishery tax revenue has increased from US$300 million to US$1.8 billion in the last five years, she believes it still could be 60 per cent higher if officials spent more time enforcing the registration of fishing boats and cracking down on under-reported catches.

Despite her achievements, she is now unwanted, a victim of politicking, vested interests and perhaps her own stubborn refusal to compromise on any policy that looked like a backward step. Although she received no direct communication from the president about his plans (“I think he is a little afraid of me,” she said), she began moving out of her official residence a week before the cabinet announcement. “I’ve been independent for many years. I can feel things.”

The former minister did not get on with maritime coordinating chief Luhut Panjaitan, the president’s senior adviser, whose role in managing Chinese investment projects put him at odds with the tousle-haired minister. During one exchange last year, she even ordered him out of her office.

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Insiders say parliament speaker Puan Maharani, daughter of ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) leader Megawati Sukarnoputri, did not want a perceived troublemaker in the new cabinet as she prepares to mount a bid for the presidency in 2024.

This might have a lot to do with Pudjiastuti’s popularity, which the colourless Maharani can hardly match. Finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati is another high achiever but is in such a crucial job that sidelining her would be unthinkable.

Pudjiastuti’s replacement is Edhy Prabowo, 46, deputy chairman of the former opposition Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and a personal friend of party leader Prabowo Subianto, whose appointment as defence minister in Widodo’s new cabinet has drawn the most headlines.

Originally tipped for the agriculture post, the three-time Sumatran legislator has already vowed to continue Pudjiastuti’s policy of sinking trawlers caught poaching in Indonesian waters – almost a no-brainer, considering how widely accepted the practice has become.

But the martial-arts enthusiast has said he will review his predecessor’s ban on deep trawling, introduced to prevent serious environmental damage, and on mid-ocean transshipment, which puzzles Pudjiastuti because she approved of the practice for domestic fishing fleets.

While Pudjiastuti believes the Widodo government will continue to enforce the ban on foreign fishing boats, she is concerned about the appointment of former fisheries director general Gellwynn Jusuf as a member of the new minister’s advisory team.

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It was Jusuf, she says, who signed a memorandum of understanding with China two weeks before she took office in 2014 that would have allowed a further 1,000 Chinese super seiners – large trawlers which target dense schools of midwater fish – into Indonesian waters.

A retired general who remains on a US blacklist because of links to human rights violators, Prabowo’s first call as minister was from Chinese ambassador Xiao Qian, with both men stressing the importance of protecting each country’s national sovereignty.

As the opposition candidate in April’s presidential election, Prabowo was critical of Widodo for courting Chinese investment, saying it was making Indonesia too dependent on the regional superpower and leaving it open to blackmail.

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While he does not have operational command over the military, the minister does control the purse strings and also formulates overall strategic policy, where he may have to temper his views in line with Indonesia’s overall national interests.

Sources close to the minister say he is thriving in his new environment and has many new ideas, having won one potential battle already by telling the parliamentary defence commission that he would discuss operational matters only in a closed hearing.

According to witnesses, one senior Indonesian officer made it clear to his American counterparts in private that while it was aware of Jakarta’s need for economic assistance, the military was wary of establishing closer ties with Beijing.

The two navies already engage in three major exercises each year, including two involving other regional and Pacific Rim nations. But there is likely to be an increase in activities outside of those drills, which date back up to 40 years.

Apart from building new fishery support facilities, Indonesia has been strengthening its presence on the northernmost island of Natuna Besar, lengthening the runway from 2,500 to 3,000 metres to take C-130 cargo planes and jet fighters.

There are also plans to deploy Norway’s advanced Kongsberg Gruppen medium-range missile system, providing an air defence umbrella covering more than 100 sq km around the island, and to upgrade its naval base and increase its fleet of maritime surveillance drones.

Pudjiastuti, for her part, is now devoting her time to dealing with a very different threat. As head of the Pandu Laut Foundation, which she formed last year, she is campaigning against destructive fishing practices and the plastic waste that plagues Indonesia’s 2 million sq km of archipelagic seas.

This may be an even bigger challenge than what the high-school dropout confronted during her five years in government, where she accomplished more than most ever imagined. ■