Voters Await Concrete Programs

· 3 minutes read

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Presidential candidates Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto are offering similar visions and missions in food, infrastructure and energy. Therefore, the two candidates are expected to dive right into defining their campaign messages and offering concrete action programs during the second round of the presidential debates on Feb. 17.

Only Jokowi and Prabowo will take part in the second debate round, which is to focus on the topics of energy, food, infrastructure, natural resources and the environment. Their running mates will not be joining them.

Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) senior economist Faisal Basri said in Jakarta on Thursday (2/14/2019) that the upcoming debate would be important for both Jokowi and Prabowo to elaborate on their vision and mission statements on energy, food and infrastructure, which were very similar. The debate is expected to help undecided voters make up their minds.

“The debate should be much more than just a student quiz show. The public wants to know what the presidential candidates will do to respond to the various problems in natural resource management,” Faisal said, adding that he expected Jokowi and Prabowo to not rely on bombastic jargon and unrealistic targets.

Indef director Berly Martawardaya cited the candidates’ energy self-sufficiency targets as an example. He said Indonesia had experienced a deficit in oil and gas reserves since 2003. The next five years should thus focus on closing the deficit margin between energy production and consumption. “So, establish a realistic target that is still challenging,” he said.

Both Jokowi-Ma’ruf Amin and Prabowo-Sandiaga Uno have promised energy and food sovereignty with similar programs In their campaign materials.

Similarity

Jokowi-Ma’ruf national campaign team spokesperson Ace Hasan Syadzily said that the food sector could be strengthened by pushing for agriculture innovation and technology, especially concerning agricultural cultivation and post-harvest businesses.

This was intended to increase domestic food production and improve farmers’ welfare. Farmers were urged to form larger groups to increase their competitiveness. “Farmers’ welfare can be improved by shortening the supply chain. It must be ensured that farmers can sell their commodities directly to the market,” Ace said.

Prabowo and Sandiaga are also committed to establishing food and energy sovereignty. Regarding food, the pair intends to involve farmers to improve the climate of the agriculture industry. Prabowo-Sandiaga national campaign team spokesperson Ferry Juliantono said that this approach aimed to increase productivity.

Jokowi and Prabowo have pledged similarly to achieve energy sovereignty. Prabowo, for instance, has planned a program to expand value-added energy production, such as by building oil refineries, developing the mining and mineral resources processing industry and jumpstarting the new and renewable energies industry. “These programs are aimed to drive the national industry and creating jobs for everyone,” Ferry said.

In Prabowo-Sandiaga’s “Indonesia Menang” (Indonesia Triumphant) vision and mission statement, the pair has proposed an accelerated action program for energy sovereignty to improve the incentive scheme to drive exploration in new energy reserves, reduce dependency on fossil energy, build oil refineries and expand fuel conversion to gas and electricity for motorized vehicles.

Jokowi-Ma’ruf’s vision and mission also propose a similar program that focuses on improving efficient production and use of fossil energy and developing new and renewable energies. Jokowi has promised to develop the new and renewable energy industry as well as technologies from the upstream to the downstream. (AGE/SAN)

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Joko widodo Prabowo Subianto presidential debate