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Pandemic tests Jokowi’s grip on ruling coalition
Dissenting voices from political parties and within the legislature are growing louder alongside a significant fall in the public's approval for the President's "pandemic performance", leading to observations that the coalition goverment could be on the brink of fracturing, especially amid the competing interests aiming for 2024.
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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo speaks during a meeting on Aug. 7, 2021 to evaluate the results of the four-tier public activity restrictions (PPKM) policy. (Courtesy of Presidential Secretariat Press Bureau/-)
I
ndonesia’s ruling coalition is at risk of fracturing, with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo suffering a hit to his approval rating and continuing to rely heavily on members of his inner circle in handling the COVID-19 crisis.
Jokowi had succeeded in consolidating power at the outset of his second term in office by accommodating the various interests of political parties, ensuring that the government could realize its agenda for the next five years.
But these gains are now under strain as public dissatisfaction grows over the government’s policy inconsistency with regard to the raging pandemic, prompting parties to rethink whether to stay in the coalition at the risk of jeopardizing their electability in the 2024 presidential race.
Meanwhile, Jokowi’s overreliance on his closest confidants has taken away opportunities for other officials to shine, which could create a sense of perceived favoritism in a coalition government that was patched together amid a climate of sociopolitical divisiveness dating back to Jokowi’s first term.
Pandemic clique
Since the pandemic emerged, Jokowi has turned to certain ministers to head the country’s pandemic response, namely Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto and State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir.
And when the country began to see an alarming surge in COVID-19 cases in early July, just weeks after the Idul Fitri holiday, the President appointed Luhut to spearhead a task force to manage the emergency public activity restrictions (PPKM Darurat) across Java and Bali, with a mission to suppress the transmission rate to 10,000 new cases per day.
