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Year of living fearlessly
Many are skeptical about the course of 2019, declaring it a political season associated with deafening rhetoric, mudslinging and everything else that is expected to bury any hope for a better year.
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Indonesian flag. (Shutterstock/File)
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any are skeptical about the course of 2019, declaring it a political season associated with deafening rhetoric, mudslinging and everything else that is expected to bury any hope for a better year. Uncertainty largely prevails as many investors are opting to wait until it is clear who wins the presidency in April.
The five-year election cycle comes around on April 17 when about 193 million Indonesian citizens across the country and around the world are to vote for their choices for House of Representatives members, regional representatives and local legislature members and, more crucially, for president and vice president. We have seen this pesta demokrasi (democracy fiesta) before, ever since the term was coined during the New Order to get out the vote.
We have also witnessed a bitterly contested election when the nation was torn between supporters of Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Prabowo Subianto in the 2014 presidential race, which Jokowi won. It was a coalition that turned into a collision as only two years before they had joined forces for the Jakarta gubernatorial election.
Five years seem too short as the wounds have not been completely healed, particularly among the rival supporters, and Jokowi and Prabowo are squaring off for the second time. There is certainly a scent of revenge in the Jokowi versus Prabowo rematch: The two-horse race this time around seems as acrimonious as the first one five years ago.
However, as a prominent Indonesian songwriter, the late Chris Manusama, said in his masterpiece “Kidung” (Ballad), “not every cloud is grey”, which is simply an expression of optimism. This rings true because despite the antagonism between the Jokowi and Prabowo camps, or the ruling government and the opposition, this nation has forged ahead over the past four years and looks to maintain that momentum this year.
On a number of occasions, both the ruling coalition and the opposition bloc at the House engaged in debate but finally unanimously supported the government, as in the case of the state budget and appointments for key posts like the Bank Indonesia governor, the Financial Supervisory Authority (OJK) chief, the National Police chief, the Indonesian Military chief and various ambassadors.
When The Jakarta Post planned its “Outlook 2019” issue, which is to be published on Tuesday, the spirit of optimism prevailed. The political year may seem disturbing, but it is to be business as usual in the field of economics. People may debate over who is the best of the two presidential candidates, but at the end of the day they are bound together by a common wish for prosperity.
As Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati writes, macroeconomic assumptions for the 2019 budget sends a message of optimism, with the economy growing by 5.3 percent and inflation stable at 3.5 percent, even as global volatility continues to increase. History beckons as Indonesia has survived political turmoil, as well as the Asian financial crisis of 1998 and the global recession of 2008.
This nation has known no fear, not even this year.
