Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko said Jokowi considered lackluster public communication on the government’s part to be the major cause of widespread opposition to the jobs law in recent weeks.

“We were all scolded by the President, our public communication was indeed very poor,” Moeldoko said at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com.

Every Cabinet member has committed to rectifying their approach to public communication, particularly in regard to the omnibus jobs law to minimize misunderstanding, according to him.

“We will immediately reflect on [our errors] for future improvement,” Moeldoko said, adding that the government had been overwhelmed by the sheer amount of “disinformation” on social media regarding the jobs law.

The Job Creation Law was passed on Oct. 5 despite strong opposition, triggering waves of mass protests, some of which turned violent, in several regions across the country over the past couple of weeks.

Jokowi previously claimed that criticism of the law was merely based on “disinformation and hoaxes spread through social media”.

Popular

PISA gains belie Indonesia’s persistent education crisis

Not the Ministry of Magic

The benefit of the doubt has expired