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Four years under Jokowi: Half-full or half-empty?
Indonesia under President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in the last four years has not done too badly.
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Defending us from the forces of darkness? Indonesian President Joko Widodo (World Economic Forum/Sikarin Fon Thanachaiary)
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ndonesia under President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in the last four years has not done too badly. It was not great, but certainly it was not disastrous. The economy is growing steadily and the nation has enjoyed a period of relative political stability. That much we can say about his presidency as he begins his fifth and last year in office this week.
There is always the compelling argument that Jokowi could have done much more on many fronts and not just the economy, including for example on the question of human rights and on health services and education. And there are certainly some unmet expectations, some of which he helped foster, that raise questions about his leadership.
Bidding for his reelection, has Jokowi done enough to convince the nation that he should be given the chance to rule for five more years, or should he make way for another leader, in this case Prabowo Subianto, his lone challenger in the April 17 race?
Going by his performance of the last four years, there are many achievements that his ardent supporters would brag as reasons for keeping him, but the shortfalls are equally plenty for his opponents to highlight in the current election campaign.
One thing we know is that the last four years have not been such a disaster that the nation desperately needs to get rid of him, as the hashtag #2019gantipresiden (change president 2019) suggests. His critics really need to be more creative than this to unseat the incumbent. They need to show that the alternative candidate has what it takes to lead better.
The public will rate Jokowi largely by his economic performance, and here, with growth rates averaging 5 percent, many would agree that he has not done too badly. With annual inflation rates kept in check below 5 percent, the majority of the people saw their real disposable income increase.
The number of people below the poverty line has fallen to 9.82 percent this year, the first time in the nation’s history to drop into single digits. The unemployment rate at 5.13 percent is also regarded as acceptable.
The Gini ratio, measuring the disparity between rich and poor, remains relatively large to raise some concerns. Although to be fair, it is not a case of the “rich get richer and the poor poorer”, but more “the rich get richer much faster than the rest of us”.
If people grumble about the state of the economy all the time, this is largely because their income is not rising fast enough. Jokowi is partly responsible for raising their expectations in the first place.
The former Jakarta governor came into office promising to deliver annual economic growth of 7 percent by way of his massive infrastructure program that would facilitate economic development, create jobs and raise people’s income.
He has followed his own script, but alas, he never attained the target as Indonesia is also impacted by the global economic slowdown. Some things are just beyond his control, at least that is his excuse.
There are also plenty of other reasons for disappointment.
After the much lauded launch of the universal national healthcare service at the start of his presidency, people are now finding that more and more medical treatments are being taken off the list as the government struggles with the huge deficit between the premium paid in and the soaring cost of services rendered.
Jokowi supporters on the progressive side are dismayed that he is succumbing to pressures from religious conservatives on several agendas that foster intolerance. The series of persecutions against followers of Shiah and Ahmadiyah, the LGBT community and a few other minority groups undermines the government’s human rights records.
Yes, Jokowi is not the perfect president. But then, who is?
When all of his records of the last four years are taken together, we come to the cliché question, “is the glass half full or half empty?”.
Most surveys today show Jokowi is still leading Prabowo in the race, but many things can still happen, and they will happen, in the coming six months. Jokowi has got that little more time left to improve on his record, and Prabowo equal time to try to destroy it.
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The writer is a senior editor at The Jakarta Post.
