I

t seems that the author of the article '€œJokowi needs to step up'€ (The Jakarta Post, July 24) Michele Ford, director of Sydney'€™s Southeast Asia Centre, is either not well aware of the situation of Indonesia'€™s employment and economy, or she is just eager to be the first one to try throwing rocks at the president-elect.

Indonesia'€™s economy is, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), for some 60 percent informal, for some 80 percent in rural areas where many people work in subsistence farming. No wonder rural people move to cities or undertake illegal forestry activities, including illegal mining, '€œslash and burn'€ and that they are vulnerable to corruption and charity. This also has consequences for food security and dependency on expensive food imports.

By far most people and their enterprises are not registered, are not regulated, not protected. Even foreigners seem to support that reality by '€” with very few exceptions in my experience '€” not providing a contract and minimum labor conditions to their maids, security staff, drivers, gardeners, etc.: '€œif they do it, why shouldn'€™t we, right?'€ So hypocritical and immoral.

Consequently, the focus on formal labor negotiations and increasing formal contract wages is the wrong one. If the writer was a bit familiar with socioeconomic development she might realize that she supports increasing inequality while the main weakness of informal, unprotected employment remains untouched.

People who witness and follow Pak Jokowi'€™s work in Jakarta know his vision, they have noticed that never has so much public work been and is being undertaken and they see what he has already achieved. We trust him to do the right things with the right team building energy and transparency: Progress Indonesia.

Peter van Dijk
Jakarta