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akarta-based polling company Populi Center released on Monday the results of a survey of 1,200 respondents across the country'€™s 34 provinces showing public approval of only 49.2 percent for President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo'€™s performance during his first year in office.

The survey was conducted from Oct. 15 to 22.

The survey revealed lower approval than a previous poll by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), which recorded approval at 50.6 percent.

Both sets of respondents, however, agreed that the economy was the most problematic element of Jokowi'€™s administration.

'€œThis should be a warning for the President '€” he will know how the people truly feel,'€ Populi Center chairman Nico Harjanto said on Monday.

The CSIS survey was conducted among 1,183 respondents nationwide from Oct. 14 to 21.

According to the CSIS, the public appears to be waiting to see whether Jokowi, who has four more years of his term to go, can deal with problems such as inflation.

Populi'€™s respondents gave the administration its worst score for stabilizing the price of staple foods, with 33.8 percent dissatisfied. The second-worst performance was the handling of the haze crisis, dissatisfying 27.1 percent, followed by the failure to stabilize the rupiah exchange rate.

'€œMost of the respondents said that the increasing prices of basic goods had hurt them,'€ said Populi researcher Nona Evita.

The survey also showed that 58.2 percent of the respondents considered Jokowi'€™s move to increase fuel prices in November last year the worst decision of his first year.

'€œThe public is still very disappointed about the increase in fuel prices,'€ Nona said.

The CSIS survey indicated that 71 percent of respondents were not happy with the economic situation under the Jokowi administration.

According to the Populi survey, the Jokowi administration has several tasks requiring immediate resolution. Around 33.5 percent of the total respondents want the President to battle unemployment by creating job opportunities, while 39.9 percent want him to be consistent in eradicating corruption in the country.

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Aria Bima said that the President had made a good start, but with minimal results as a result of a lack of ministerial cooperation.

'€œWe see ministries, but not a Cabinet,'€ Aria said. '€œMost of the ministers are acting as individuals.'€

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, for example, was very enthusiastic about eradicating illegal fishing, he said, but was failing to cooperate with the Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Ministry to ensure the prosperity of local fishermen.

University of Indonesia (UI) political expert Thamrin Tomagola said that the low approval rating was due to ministries'€™ lack of unified action, adding that regional administrations'€™ policies were also often not line with the President'€™s vision.

'€œJokowi is on the right track, but he has to be more firm in commanding the ministries and regional leaders. Currently, each ministry seems to work on its own. They don'€™t have good coordination,'€ Thamrin said.

Jokowi, he went on, had made outstanding improvements in the infrastructure and maritime sectors, but was doing poorly in ensuring food security and eradicating corruption, and had failed to ensure inter-faith harmony. (foy)