Economic Achievements Influenced by Other Issues

KOMPAS/PRADIPTA PANDU

Presidential candidates Joko Widodo (left) and Prabowo Subianto (right) walk hand in hand at a pledge for a peaceful campaign ahead of the 2019 election that was held at the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta on Sunday, Sept. 23. The presidential candidates hope to receive support from volunteers at a time when coalition parties also have to concentrate on preparations for the legislative election.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Despite public perception on the importance of economic programs, the 2019 presidential candidates must also increase dissemination of other strategic programs that will significantly affect the success of their economic programs, including law enforcement, corruption eradication and human development.

Krisnadwipayana University professor and former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chair Indriyanto Seno Adji said in Jakarta on Tuesday (1/8/2019) that law enforcement and corruption were among the most important national issues since the late 1990s. He urged the presidential candidates not to neglect these issues.

It was hoped that the candidates would develop better and clearer narratives on integrating law enforcement and corruption eradication as an inseparable part of economic development.

“[The presidential candidates] must emphasize that poor legal certainty and a higher prevalence of corruption would only disrupt and undermine economic and infrastructure development programs,” Indriyanto explained.

A Kompas Research & Development (Litbang Kompas) survey on Jan. 3-4 found that 24.55 percent of respondents who were familiar with the Joko Widodo-Ma’ruf Amin vision, mission and programs cited infrastructure development as the pair’s most important program, followed by economic improvement. Meanwhile, 18.56 percent of respondents familiar with the Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno vision, mission and programs cited economic improvement and job creation as their most attractive programs.

The rival campaign teams said on separate occasions that they would emphasize economic programs during the campaign period, which ends on April 13 (Kompas, 1/8/2019).

Parahyangan Catholic University law lecturer Agustinus Pohan said that economic development would never work without corruption eradication. Indonesia’s high-cost economy was the result of corruption.

“Infrastructure development through debt financing, for instance, will not be effective without eradicating corruption. This is because people may steal the money intended for infrastructure projects,” he said.

Law enforcement and corruption eradication were still believed to be most attractive to voters. Agustinus said that the public would be interested in and sympathize with candidates that voiced their concerns in these issues.

Human development

Jokowi-Ma’ruf has placed infrastructure development and economic development as inseparable from human development. Deputy chair Johnny G. Plate of the Jokowi-Ma’ruf national campaign team said that economy and infrastructure were part of the primary focus of human development to prepare Indonesia for human resource challenges in the Industry 4.0.

This was a shift from Jokowi’s Nawacita vision during the 2014 election. Nawacita I, Johnny said, focused on economic and infrastructure development, while Nawacita II of the 2019 election would place more emphasis on developing quality human resources. “The main focus is human [development]. Economic and infrastructure development are [supplementary],” he said.

The human development program comprised work programs in a variety of sectors, including education and health. Development would start at the village level and included physical infrastructure, education, health, culture and mentality.

Separately, Ahmad Riza Patria of the Prabowo-Sandiaga national campaign team said that economic issues formed the foundation of the pair’s plans for advancing and empowering Indonesians.

“We will prioritize human development, but the economy remains a critical issue. To develop human resources, we need a big budget. The economy will need to move forward through job creation,” he said.

Riza said that Prabowo-Sandiaga would also focus on three core issues to drive the economy. The first was fair, neutral, independent and indiscriminate legal certainty; the second was equal education for quality human resources; and third was public health. (AGE/SAN/REK)