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our years into his first term, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo commands high approval ratings and remains in pole position for the 2019 presidential election, but some of the lofty ambitions set at the beginning of his presidency remain unfulfilled.

Political observers have said that Jokowi needs to better respond to grassroots concerns to ensure his reelection in 2019.

Jokowi was sworn in as the country’s seventh president on Oct. 20, 2014, after defeating former general Prabowo Subianto with 53.15 percent of the vote. His 2014 campaign centered around a nine-point development agenda, known as Nawacita, which included promises on strengthening the economy, building infrastructure, eradicating corruption and developing Indonesia’s outer regions, among other things.

Jokowi’s approval ratings remain consistently strong, with a September national survey conducted by Jakarta-based pollster Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) finding that 73.4 percent of 1,220 respondents were quite satisfied or very satisfied with his performance.

Despite the high job approval rating, many of Jokowi’s promises remain unfulfilled, with the economy growing at a slower rate than the targeted 7 percent, corruption plaguing the bureaucracy and past human rights abuses remaining unresolved.

And while Jokowi and his campaign team have continually touted the administration’s ambitious infrastructure push — most recently through a YouTube video showing off brand new airports, newly opened toll roads and expanded electricity networks constructed in the past four years — analysts say the incumbent needs to focus more on achievements that could have a direct impact on people in order to maintain his popularity.

“Our political elites are fond of talking about big projects such as large dams and toll roads, but they never talk about the low-level infrastructure projects that could improve village economies and nurture democracy at the grassroots level,” M. Ridha Saleh of NGO Rumah Mediasi Indonesia said, adding that Jokowi should tout his success in building 7,000 retention basins more than he bragged about kilometers of toll road.

Political observer Pangi Chaniago of the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) also said that Jokowi should focus on bread and butter issues that are directly related to people’s needs such as staple food prices, electricity fees and fuel costs.

“This economic issue is now being used by the opposition,” Pangi said, referring to Jokowi’s rivals, Prabowo and Sandiaga Uno, who have now shifted their focus onto economic issues. On the campaign trail, Sandiaga has repeatedly brought up the issue of rising food prices, which he says is a result of overreliance on imports.

Although inflation has remained consistently low since 2016, the prices of certain goods such as eggs have spiked recently, creating a negative perception of the current administration.

Eva Kusuma Sundari, a member of Jokowi’s Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said the President had always focused on the needs of the wong cilik (common people), and blamed the increased food prices on long supply chains that his government inherited from the previous administration.

Other than economic issues, Jokowi has also faced criticism for his handling of past rights abuses and rampant corruption.

Rights group the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said President Jokowi appeared not to have taken human rights issues seriously.

“His administration failed to accomplish most of its initial commitments on human rights,” Kontras commissioner Yati Andriyani told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

Kontras has conducted a review and found that Jokowi failed to carry out most of his own 17 priority human rights programs.

Antigraft watchdog Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) considered Jokowi not aggressive enough in the fight against graft.

ICW’s political corruption division coordinator, Donald Fariz, said Jokowi had not gone far enough in introducing e-budgeting and e-procurement processes as many regional leaders were being charged with corruption.

Irma Suryani Chaniago, a spokesperson for Jokowi’s campaign team, rebuffed Donald’s claim, saying the arrest of local politicians indicated that the President allowed the KPK to work professionally.

As for human rights abuses, Irma said Jokowi was yet to make serious progress. “In the future, the issue of human rights violation should be made a priority, especially past human rights abuses.”