JAKARTA: Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s public approval score is regular at 78 per cent a yr after he took workplace, a survey confirmed on Saturday (Nov 8), regardless of a difficult first yr in workplace marked by lethal student protests.
Prabowo’s approval is little modified from 80.9 per cent within the earlier ballot, launched in January.
He took workplace in October 2024 after sweeping a normal election, however his authorities has needed to cope with a variety of financial and social challenges, together with the protests towards a few of his insurance policies.
Solely 20.8 per cent of respondents within the new survey expressed dissatisfaction with Prabowo, Burhanuddin Muhtadi, founding father of impartial polling organisation Indikator Politik Indonesia, advised journalists.
“Primarily based on our nationwide survey … the variable that makes the general public most glad is eradicating corruption,” Muhtadi mentioned, including that Prabowo additionally acquired excessive marks for social help and his signature free-meals programme.
Prabowo’s lowest approval was for the political scenario, at 31 per cent within the survey, carried out from Oct 20 to 27 and involving 1,220 respondents. The best was for safety at 56.5 per cent.
Prabowo received the presidency on a promise to stamp out corruption and improve financial alternatives by accelerating gross home product progress to eight per cent from 5 per cent.
Amongst his most contentious insurance policies since taking energy has been formalising the expansion of the military’s role in civilian governance, which triggered the protests.
The usage of troopers by Prabowo – a former particular forces commander dismissed from the navy amid hypothesis of rights abuses and as soon as barred from getting into the USA – for duties comparable to operating civilian departments and manufacturing medicines, has been criticised by rights teams as a risk to democracy.
His formidable free-meals programme that targets nutritious meals for over 80 million Indonesians, has hit some hurdles. Some 15,000 kids had fallen ill as of Oct 29 after consuming meals ready below the programme.
But it surely has been the economic system which has challenged Prabowo most persistently.
Development slowed to five.04 per cent within the third quarter from 5.12 per cent within the second quarter as family spending, which makes up greater than half of Indonesia’s GDP, cooled barely.
Whereas progress stays regular, it’s nonetheless beneath this yr’s goal of 5.2 per cent, underscoring the problem of lifting progress to eight per cent by 2029.
There have been multiple stimulus packages and interest-rate cuts this yr, however investor sentiment stays lukewarm.
“That is an enter for Prabowo’s authorities, that satisfaction has not been contributed by financial components,” Muhtadi mentioned.
