President Joko Widodo, who took Indonesia’s highest office on Oct. 20, will soon complete his first 100 days in office. Political analysts say the first 100 days of a presidency are crucial for setting the tone of a new administration and establishing a workable agenda for the rest of the new leader’s term in office.
It looks like Indonesians do not think Jokowi has gotten off to a good start with his presidency. The results of a survey by the Social and Political Studies Center (Puspol) revealed that 74.6 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with the government’s leadership under Jokowi and his vice president, Jusuf Kalla, so far.
The director of Puspol Indonesia, Ubedilah Badrun, said the public’s overall appraisal of Jokowi’s first three months in office is negative.
“Jokowi’s educational program, card program, economic policy, and energy policy have all been judged negatively by the public,” Ubedilah said on Wednesday as quoted by Republika.
One of Jokowi’s most unpopular decisions, decreasing the subsidy on fuel, was judged harshly by survey participants, 44.44 percent of whom said they did not approve of the move, especially when global oil prices were down.
The only aspect of the new administration’s policy poll participants seemed generally in favor of was the new maritime policy of sinking illegal foreign fishing vessels in Indonesian waters, with 74 percent approving of the measure. (And we have to guess the popularity of Minister Susi has something to do with that).
The Puspol survey was conducted from Jan 6-16 and polled 756 people, giving it a 3 percent margin of error. The majority of those survey lived in Jakarta, West Java and Banten.
