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Jokowi's risky politics of infrastructure
As a politician, Jokowi is certainly aware that the success or failure of his infrastructure projects will significantly affect his approval rating and electability.
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Finally here: Workers unload an MRT car from cargo ship the Ellensburg at Tanjung Priok port, North Jakarta, on Wednesday. Two trains, each with 6 cars, have arrived from Japan and will be stored at Lebak Bulus depot in South Jakarta. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
W
hen he took the oath as president in October 2014, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo promised to provide more opportunities for the private sector to participate in his massive infrastructure projects. However, he has thus far taken an interesting approach by utilizing state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to spearhead infrastructure development.
The decision has turned heads and raised questiones over the SOEs capabilities and efficiency — an issue raised by the World Bank at the Indonesia Finance Infrastructure Forum in October 2017. A deeper look into this matter, however, shows that Jokowi’s puzzling decision is not without reason and may prove to be the most viable option considering his bid to amass political capital for the upcoming presidential election.
As a politician, Jokowi is certainly aware that the success or failure of his infrastructure projects will significantly affect his approval rating and electability. He needs to utilize everything at his disposal to complete the projects to reap the rewards.
This renders political consideration as the underlying motivation for the project completion. In this regard, there are two major advantages that the SOEs can offer in line with Jokowi’s considerations.
