President Joko Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla walk out of the Vice President\'s Office on Tuesday (06/02/2018). The President visited Kalla in the Vice President\'s Office for lunch. After lunch, the two leaders discussed a number of topics, such as efforts to increase investment.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — There has been a shift in the level of public satisfaction toward the performance of the Joko Widodo-Jusuf Kalla administration. Various possibilities remain open because satisfaction with performance is not the sole factor for voters in making a candidate choice.
After recording higher approval ratings in April 2017 to April 2018, there has been a decline in the approval of the performance of the Joko Widodo-Jusuf Kalla administration, as seen in a survey by Kompas’ research and development division on Sept. 24-Oct. 5.
The public approval, which is now at the rate of 65.3 percent, is equivalent to the results of the Kompas Research and Development Division’s survey in January 2015 (three months of Jokowi-Kalla\'s administration) at 65.1 percent or in the two years of Jokowi-Kalla\'s administration in October 2016 at 65.9 percent.
The approval rating decline, which is seen mainly in the field of law and social welfare, coincides with the emergence of a number of narratives related to the contestation of the 2019 general election aimed at the government. The narratives, for example, deal with poverty and economic conditions, or questions about a number of legal processes.
A number of political events show that the level of satisfaction toward the government’s performance and the narratives that surround them are important factors in contestations, such as the general election.
Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) researcher Arya Fernandes said, when contacted from Jakarta on Sunday (21/10/2018), that the high level of satisfaction of the people toward the performance of the government, especially in the economic field, was an important factor that got President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono reelected in the 2009 presidential election.
This happened because the issues related to the economy and social welfare, such as the prices of basic needs, employment, and access to health and education facilities, are directly related to the needs of the people.
However, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) researcher Firman Noor also reminded, when facing the US presidential election for the second term in 2012, Barack Obama also faced a decrease in satisfaction. However, at that time Obama was able to communicate his ideas well so he could still be re-elected.
The executive director of University of Indonesia\'s Political Study Center, Aditya Perdana, said that the 2017 Jakarta regional election also showed that performance was not the only factor influencing voter preferences. However, there were other things that would also influence voters, such as narratives that appeared before the vote.
This condition also has the potential to occur in the 2019 general election.
Narratives
With regard to the narratives that appeared around the 2019 general election, Arya Fernandes assessed that the Jokowi-Ma\'ruf National Campaign Team (TKN) is increasingly in a passive-responsive stance.
"The government is facing more difficult economic conditions. For the incumbent campaign team, it should be processed and overcome. However, the Jokowi-Ma\'ruf campaign team is increasingly in a more responsive stance. When there was a statement from the other camp, the response was very loud. However, the team itself did not initiate its own narratives. Economic narratives such as what they want to put forward, want to fight for, or maintain, seem to have not been processed by the Jokowi-Ma\'ruf campaign team," explained Arya.
If the construction of such narratives is not taken seriously by the incumbent and its team, according to Arya, it is not impossible to influence the voter support.
Deputy Chairman of Jokowi-Ma\'ruf National Campaign Team, Eriko Sotarduga, considered the narratives being conveyed by Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno and their team more in the form of illusions and did not offer concrete solutions to the community.
Responding to this statement, spokesman for the Prabowo-Sandiaga campaign team, Andre Rosiade, said concrete programs from his camp would directly be disclosed by Prabowo and Sandiaga during debates of the presidential-vice presidential candidates.
Andre also said that public complaints that had been accepted by his camp had indicated a decline in appreciation of the government\'s performance, especially in the field of law and social welfare.
This condition makes one of the campaign focuses of the Prabowo-Sandiaga camp be one better economic achievement and social welfare.
Secretary-General of the National Mandate Party, Eddy Soeparno, said that a decrease in the level of satisfaction with the government\'s performance helped make the high level of public expectations on the #2019ChangethePresident hashtag.
Separately, director of Jokowi-Ma\'ruf National Campaign Team volunteers, Maman Imanulhaq, said his team had received input on the difficulties experienced by the community in the fields of economics and social welfare. He also realized that it would be used by the opposition or the Prabowo-Sandi camp as campaign materials. "We know the only weapon they will work on is the economy. This is because they will have difficulty selling other issues. However, we believe that we can face this issue in the economic field by giving arguments, data and facts," he said.
Findings and studies by independent institutions, including Kompas Research and Development Division, according to Maman, will be discussed and become inputs for the internal circles of Jokowi-Ma\'ruf National Campaign Team. The root of the problem that causes the decline in public satisfaction in each sector will be thoroughly examined so as to find their trigger.
"The thing we fear is that community dissatisfaction arises because of disinformation or hoaxes. To anticipate this, friends of volunteers who focus on economics, for example, holds discussions in several regions to see the reality in the community," he said. (GAL/SAN/REK/BOW/APA)
