STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT. As a Javanese man President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo prefers to refrain from openly expressing his opposition to the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle’s (PDI-P) plan to nominate its chairwoman’s daughter Puan Maharani as its presidential candidate in the 2024 race. But his actions and statements show he does not want Puan to contest the election, perhaps because he believes it will be a suicidal act for the party and, also for his carefully crafted post-presidential plans.
Jokowi will leave office in October 2024, but his approval rating is still high for a second-term president and his grassroots support remains strong. Several volunteer groups who supported his nomination in the 2014 and 2019 elections have vowed to support whichever presidential candidate he will endorse in 2024.
Acting as pressure groups, they have organized gatherings to show off their power, in the presence of the President. During these rallies Jokowi has often hinted at his preference for Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo as his successor.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo warned on Friday that the general election, scheduled for February 2024, could take place under the cloud of global economic and political uncertainty from the Ukraine war effect and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Be very careful. The 2024 general election will be organized while the global economic situation is clouded by uncertainty. We need to have the same concern about it,” Jokowi said in a speech delivered for the national gathering of poll workers organized by the General Election Commission (KPU).
Jokowi said that the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and other geopolitical tensions had created food, energy and financial crises in so many parts of the world. “The current position today is not normal — this is abnormal,” President Jokowi said, quoted by Kompas.com.
Google announced on Wednesday at the Google for Indonesia event that it would provide $1.2 million in funding to CekFakta, a fact-checking consortium of 24 news organizations, and the GNI Indonesia Training Network to equip more editors, journalists, and fact-checkers with the skills and tools they need ahead of the 2024 national elections.
Google also announced plans for a new initiative, Safer Internet Lab, led by the Jakarta-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), to research and analyze sources and patterns of misinformation and disinformation in order to raise public awareness of various provocative issues before they become larger problems.
Poltracking Indonesia Executive Director Hanta Yuda A.R. on Thursday said the results of a survey evaluating the performance of the Jokowi-Ma’ruf Amin administration show that highest level of public satisfaction was reported for Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto (61.4 percent), followed by State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir (59.4 percent), and Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno (57.7 percent). Some 42.8 percent of the respondents, he said, would support a cabinet reshuffle by President Jokowi.
Poltracking Indonesia Survey Institute on Thursday released the results of a national survey on the performance of the Jokowi-Ma’ruf Administration 2022, concluding that public satisfaction with the administration’s performance has increased.
According to Poltracking Indonesia Executive Director Hanta Yuda, 20.4 percent of respondents were very satisfied with the Jokowi-Ma’ruf administration’s performance, while 52.4 percent were quite satisfied, bringing the total number of satisfied respondents to 73.2 percent.
