“Susi Duyung” by Hari Budiono. Photo:@BentaraBudaya
So it has now been about two months since President Joko Widodo’s “Working Cabinet” of ministers has gotten to work. We’ve heard very little about what most of the new ministers have been up to since taking office, while a couple we’ve heard about a lot.
A recent survey by the Cyrus Network of 1,220 respondents in 33 provinces showed that, of the 34 new ministers, only four were well-known to the public: Puan Maharani (Coordinating Minister of Human Resources Development and Cultural Affairs), Anies Baswedan (Minister for Primary and Secondary Education), Khofifah Indarparawansah (Minister of Social Affairs), and Susi Pudjiastuti (Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs).
Guess which ship-sinking, no-nonsense badass mermaid minister proved to be the most well-known?
Not only was Susi the most famous minister from the results, the survey also found she was the official respondents were more optimistic about.
Asked whether Susi’s performance gives them hope, 28.7% said yes while only 6% dared to doubt her (the other 65.4% just shrugged their shoulders and said “I dunno”).
By comparison, only 10.9% said Puan (daughter of ex-President Megawati Sukarnoputri) gave them hope while an even greater 12.6% said they doubted her future performance.
Regarding their abilities to give hope, Social Affairs Minister Khofifah got a healthier 15% while Education Minister Anies got 11.2%.
It is surprising how strong a reaction Susi has generated in such a short time as the head of a relatively unknown ministry.
Obviously part of it has to do with her unusual background as a single mother (who dropped out of high school, smokes and has a tattoo), that also built up a hugely successful business empire that she gave up to serve her country on the high seas.
And she’s certainly accomplished a fair bit during her short time in the hot seat getting a moratorium on moratorium on new fishing licenses for foreign vessels and sinking the ships of those who would violate it.
Something about her inspires all sorts of memes and fan art, like this painting, created by artists Heri Budiono and Romo Sindunata for an exhibition at Bentara Budaya Jakarta last week (which Susi apparently appreciated)
In an interesting interview on Rappler, Susi asked with exasperation, “Am I a celebrity or a minister?” Well, it looks like you’re both. Try and enjoy it.
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