T

he growing need for a better public welfare system after more than 15 years since democratizing is still merely used as an election carrot by politicians to win votes, a recent survey revealed.

The survey, which was jointly conducted by Gadjah Mada University (UGM) and Oslo University, aimed to evaluate changes in public perspectives toward government policies since 2007.

Approximately 65 percent of the respondents, comprising 592 experts and activists in 31 regions across the country, said that the government was obliged to provide adequate services, such as education, health, public housing and social insurance, to increase the welfare of citizens.

But the study, which was conducted in 2013, revealed that only 13.6 percent of respondents were content with the services provided by the government, while 40 percent said welfare needs were met by community engagement. In the 2007 survey, 23 percent of respondents resorted to government services in addressing their welfare needs.

Survey coordinator Amalinda Savirani, a political scientist from UGM, said Wednesday that this was the perception of people because welfare security was only trumpeted by political hopefuls when campaigning.

“Since the 2004 Social Security Law’s implementation during the Megawati presidency, many politicians have used a welfare-based campaign to attract voters,” Amalinda said during a visit to The Jakarta Post.

She added that the use of “welfare-based campaigning” was also a result of direct elections being implemented in the same year.