Woman: It's only been one year...
Papers read: Debt, free nutritious meals (MGB) program...
A survey by the Centre of Economic and Law Studies (Celios) has found that the first year of the administration of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka has failed to meet public expectations, and gave Prabowo's Red and White Cabinet a score of 3 out of 10, down from a score of 5 in its first 100 days.
Celios Media and Fiscal Policy Director Wahyu Askar said that the low score reflected weak coordination between institutions, inconsistent public communication and the slow implementation of priority programs.
"Pak [Mr] Prabowo Subianto received a score of 3 out of 10, while Gibran received 2 out of 10. Over the past year, many policies have not shown a real impact on the public", he said in an online one-year performance report of the Prabowo-Gibran administration on Sunday October 19.
The survey, which involved 1,338 respondents in 34 provinces, also highlighted the ten worst-performing officials who were recommended for reshuffle.
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia was highlighted as failing to maintain stability in the energy sector and poor policy communication leading to public confusion, while National Nutrition Agency (BGN) head Dadan Hindayana was cited due to the mass poisoning cases caused by Prabowo's flagship free nutritional meals (MBG) program.
Celios found that 64 percent of respondents considered the MBG program to be poorly targeted, while 71 percent highlighted weak nutritional standards and food quality monitoring.
Celios Legal Researcher Muhammad Saleh meanwhile said that the majority of public feels that government programs have not brought about any real change with 45 percent of respondents saying their household's economic situation was stagnant, 27 percent felt they were worse off and only 28 percent felt better off than the previous year.
Law enforcement also came under scrutiny with 75 percent of respondents rating it as poor and 91 percent rating government policy communication as inadequate. Celios also found increasingly negative perceptions of the police and the Indonesian Military (TNI), which scored only 2 and 3 out of 10 respectively.
The economic sector has also not shown significant improvement with the majority of the public feeling that economic assistance programs are ineffective and that fiscal policies have actually increases their economic burden. Celios found that 84 percent of respondents felt burdened by new levies and taxes, while 53 percent felt that government subsidies and assistance had not been able to reduce the cost of living.
The survey also showed a decline in Prabowo-Gibran's electability, with 36 percent of respondents stating they would not vote for the pair again if an election were held today.
[Abridged from an Indoleft translation of a CNN Indonesia article titled Prabowo government has failed to meet public expectations: Survey.]
