After governing Indonesia for five years with Vice President Jusuf Kalla, in the next five years, Jokowi will lead Indonesia with Ma\'ruf Amin.
By
AZYUMARDI AZRA
·5 minutes read
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo will be inaugurated for a second term on Oct. 20. After governing Indonesia for five years with Vice President Jusuf Kalla, in the next five years, Jokowi will lead Indonesia with Ma\'ruf Amin.
Massive physical infrastructure development in various parts of the archipelago seems to be the main legacy of Jokowi-Kalla. The positive results and impacts of development have begun to be felt by the people and, in the medium and long term, the positive impacts on various sectors may become more apparent.
What about in other fields, such as social-cultural infrastructure, politics (democracy), religion and education? Perhaps, some researchers and observers are not too sure about the achievements of Jokowi-Kalla in the past five years; there are quite a lot of critical views from them.
In the past two years, more and more literature has been written by domestic and international experts on the increasing trend of authoritarianism and oligarchism in Indonesia. They also saw this tendency in several policies and steps by Jokowi. For them, Indonesian democracy has not progressed; on the contrary it has tended to degenerate into flawed democracy.
However, to be fair to President Jokowi, a comprehensive study on his achievements in development, in the fields of infrastructure, economy and politics (democracy) throughout the 2014-2019 period needs to be carried out. Studies on this matter are generally still partial and piecemeal.
How will President Jokowi\'s second term with Vice President Ma\'ruf Amin be? Normatively, various government targets have been formulated in the second edition of Nawacita (Nine-point development program).
The main focus has shifted from the development of physical infrastructure to the development of human resources to produce superior and advanced Indonesian people. Nawacita II also focuses on increasing the productivity and competitiveness of the exports of manufactured products and the strategic upstream industry.
For this purpose, there are a number of strategic steps to be taken, namely strengthening the investment climate, trade openness and involvement in the global production network. Another step is to strengthen research and innovation capabilities, and accelerate technology adoption.
The situation and conditions that Jokowi must go through to realize Nawacita II tend to be more difficult than that for Nawacita I. The social, political and economic circumstance, especially in the country, has changed, which generally is no longer as conducive as in 2014.
The reduced level of conduciveness, for example, can be seen from the declined public enthusiasm for Jokowi and Ma\'ruf Amin. In terms of social political psychology, the decline in enthusiasm is easily understood. The public has become accustomed to Jokowi\'s policies, steps, styles and gestures; not much else can spark enthusiasm.
The deterioration in conduciveness was clearly seen with the rampant demonstrations by various elements of society toward the end of the Jokowi-Kalla administration. The demonstration, which was triggered by the revision of the Corruption Eradication Commission Law, and the plan to ratify a number of other controversial bills involved university students and high school students in a number of cities in the country. The level of anarchism during the demonstration also seems to be increasing.
Now the demonstration has subsided, but the shadow of dissatisfaction is still affecting President Jokowi. On the other hand, there are still many student organizations and groups which demand that Jokowi immediately issue a government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu).
The same feeling also emerged from civil society, which urged Jokowi to issue the Perppu.
In connection with the handling of the demonstration, student leaders and activists who were supported by human rights organizations and groups questioned Jokowi\'s commitment on human rights. Quite a lot of student activists were detained by the National Police and suspected of being treated inhumanely as if without control.
The same feeling also emerged from civil society, which urged Jokowi to issue the Perppu.
At that time, Jokowi said he would consider issuing a Perppu. However, now hopes have diminished. The ruling coalition supporting Jokowi strongly objects to the Perppu.
The non-conducive situation faced by Jokowi at the end of his first term and at the beginning of the second term is also related to the conditions of Papua and West Papua. Although Jokowi has carried out massive infrastructure development along with the implementation of one fuel price in these two provinces, there problem is still there -- the fire is still in the husk.
Starting with the red and white flag incident in front of the Papuan student dormitory in Surabaya (16/8/2019), the trouble followed with violence did not seem to have been settled completely, even escalated with the deadly riot in Wamena (23/8/2019). The riot did not only kill a number of non-native Papuans living there, but also damage many buildings and other public facilities and force thousands of people leave Wamena and Jayapura.
It is unclear which formula or policy Jokowi will take to solve the problems of Papua and West Papua. So far, there is a critical view, Jokowi has not done optimally in responding to situations that are not conducive in Papua. Perhaps, Jokowi will give more serious attention after his inauguration on 20 October.
Thus, Jokowi\'s challenges in his 2019-2024 term will not get easier. Instead, the challenges he faces are increasingly heavy and complex amid the social-political psychology that is no longer fully supportive. Those who later join the Jokowi-Amin cabinet should be ready to work seriously with the President and Vice President to overcome the unfavorable situation; change the challenges into a better and more advanced Indonesia.
Azyumardi Azra, Culture and Humanities professor, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University; member of AIPI