Agnes Theodora, Iqbal Basyari, Jakarta – The high level of public satisfaction with the performance of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Vice President Ma'ruf Amin's administration, which even reached its highest level during Widodo's second term in office, is believed to due to the government consistency working for the public.
These satisfaction levels however tend to be fragile or pseudo. This is mainly because of social assistance or bansos being the main reason the public is satisfied with the government, not for resolving the country's structural problems.
Former Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) chairperson and Special Presidential Staff Grace Natalie said that the increasing level of public satisfaction shows that the public appreciates and can feel the hard work of the Widodo-Amin administration.
President Widodo is also said to have always been consistent in working from the beginning through to the end of his administration. Moreover the public has recently expressed its appreciation by the highest level of public satisfaction shown in the past five years.
According to Natalie, this is, among other things, because the president has consistently conducted blusukan (impromptu or unannounced public visits). From these the President can produce the policies needed by the public.
"I even suspect that there is no such thing as a holiday in Pak [Mr] Jokowi's dictionary", said Natalie on Wednesday June 19.
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Politics and Social Change Department head Arya Fernandes says that the high level of public satisfaction towards the end of the administration's rule cannot be separated from Widodo's efforts to maintain the government's image in the eyes of the public.
Populist policies
The president for example, has not produced any unpopular policies. Moreover, the government will continue to give out social assistance until the end of the year. On the other hand, problems such as the weakening rupiah exchange rate and several controversial draft laws have not had a direct impact on the public so these problems are considered as something normal.
"The big issues at the end of his term in office have tended to be elitist, not felt directly by the public", said Fernandes.
The high level of public confidence, he continued, must be answered with policies that favor the public. In the political arena, revisions to a number of controversial laws, such as revisions to the Constitutional Court Law (UU MK), the Indonesian Military Law (UU TNI) and the National Police Law (UU Polri), along with the Broadcasting Law (UU Penyiaran), must be reviewed. The formation process must also ensure meaningful public participation.
In the economic field, it is necessary to think about long-term solutions to improve public welfare. The social assistance that has been disbursed by the government is not a long-term solution. Another solution is needed so that the public does not always depend on direct government assistance.
Based on data from the Ministry of Finance, social assistance expenditure in the state budget (APBN) has increased significantly over the last five years. In 2019, the social assistance budget was 97.06 trillion rupiah. This figure increased during the peak of Covid-19 pandemic to 125.06 trillion rupiah in 2020 and 156.44 trillion rupiah in 2021.
In 2022, in concert with the pandemic abating, the social assistance budget dropped to 142.43 trillion rupiah. In 2023 however, the social assistance budget allocation increased to 143.57 trillion rupiah and rose again to 152.3 trillion rupiah this year.
Yet at the same time, poverty levels have tended to consistently decline. Although it touched a level of 10.19 percent in September 2020 due to Covid-19, the figure has continued to fall to as low as 9.36 percent in March 2023.
"Logically, if poverty rates decline, bansos should be reduced because less is needed. But, bansos was instead increased, especially ahead of the political year", said Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) senior economist Tauhid Ahmad.
The social assistance budget anomaly that was not proportional to the decline in poverty levels was increasingly obvious by 2024. The Ministry of Finance noted that the budget realisation for social assistance jumped sharply by 135.1 percent on an annual basis in the first two months of 2024 or before the February 14 presidential and legislative elections.
Ahmad believes that this situation shows a strong dependence by the government and the public on social assistance. The government relies on social assistance as an instant solution to maintain people's purchasing power and prevent an increase in poverty levels. Meanwhile recipients rely on social assistance to meet the daily needs of life.
"So this relationship has been very demanding. Its dependence is high so that budgetary politics and the APBN tend to be 'held hostage' by bansos. The government does not dare to reorganise or reduce social assistance because social and bad problems can arise politically", said Ahmad.
University of Indonesia researcher Fithra Faisal is not surprised that people are satisfied with the government because of social assistance. Moreover, this year, the distribution of social assistance was the highest ever, even exceeding its peak during the Covid-19 pandemic. Social assistance was also disbursed at the beginning of the year along with holiday allowance bonuses (THR).
"So, no wonder. However, it should be noted that this is only pseudo satisfaction based on what the public receives at that time. Because, structural problems, right, still exist. The public, yeah, is still poor", said Faisal.
Ahmad and Faisal both warned that the long-term solutions to overcome poverty and public welfare are providing affordable education and the creation of more decent jobs, not from a flood of social assistance.
- Majority of those satisfied with Jokowi social aid recipients: Survey. Kompas.com – June 20, 2024
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Mayoritas Publik Puas dengan Kinerja Pemerintah, tetapi Problem Struktural Tak Teratasi (2)".]
