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Jokowi’s approval rating drops to six-year low
The Jokowi government has come under increasing pressure over the past few months to keep domestic cooking oil prices -- a household staple in Indonesia -- in check.
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President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on March 15 enjoys a sunrise after spending the night at a campsite in Penajam Paser Utara, East Kalimantan, where the government will build its new capital city replacing Jakarta. (AFP/Presidential Palace/Agus Suparto)
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urging commodity prices have taken a further toll on President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s popularity, according to the latest poll.
A public opinion survey conducted by pollsters Indikator Politik Indonesia, which surveyed 1,228 people across the country in early May, found that Jokowi’s approval rating stood at 58.1 percent, the lowest point since December 2015, when his rating plunged to 53 percent. In January, his rating was still at 75.3 percent.
Indikator Politik executive director Burhanuddin Muhtadi said on Sunday that inflation, which hit a record 32-month high in April, was the most-cited reason for public disapproval of his performance.
According to data from Bank Indonesia (BI), April’s inflation rate was at 3.47 percent, the highest since August 2019, when the country’s inflation rate was at 3.49 percent.
“With the increasing inflation rate, which now creeps towards 4 percent, the President’s approval has also been under pressure,” Burhanuddin said during an online discussion. “May’s 58.1 percent approval rating has been the lowest in the past six years,” he said.
The Jokowi government has come under increasing pressure over the past few months to keep domestic cooking oil prices -- a household staple in Indonesia -- in check. In a move that shocked the global market, Jokowi decided to ban the export of crude palm oil (CPO) to control the domestic cooking oil prices. The controversial policy, however, has yet to reduce the increasing prices of goods.
While almost 90 percent of the poll’s respondents supported the export ban, more than 72 percent said cooking oil prices remained less affordable, or not affordable at all.
