Timun: I'm said to be like a clown, funny, ridiculous!!! But there are some who say I'm arrogant, lacking self-awareness, put on airs, egoist!!! Confused!!! I'm intelligent, intellectual, smart, humble, self-aware!!!
Person holding mirror: Please Mr Timun look in the mirror. The mirror cannot lie...
Responding to the latest Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) survey which found that public satisfaction with President Prabowo Subianto’s performance had fallen to 51.1 percent, a Tempo English editorial commented that "in politics, polls are like mirrors. Some use them to groom their image, while others choose to shatter the glass when the reflection turns unpleasant".
The editorial continued saying that "as long as it is backed by a valid methodology, a poll is more than just a tool for measuring popularity and electability – it serves as a gauge of whether the government remains on a track approved by the public".
"President Prabowo Subianto should take a close look in the mirror provided by a recent survey – assuming he still has faith in polling organisations. Prabowo has repeatedly said he puts little trust in surveys because, he claims, they are funded by certain interests. This is, of course, a practical excuse: if the results are good, polls are proof he is doing a good job, while if they are bad, the results are called into question."
Tempo noted that eight months ago the figure was still 81.2 percent and that the fall is "in line with increasingly negative public perceptions of the economic and political situation and law enforcement over the 20 or so months since the start of his administration".
Therefore, said Tempo "the fall in Prabowo's public satisfaction and electability cannot be dismissed as simply a statistical fluctuation. These figures reflect the failure of the government to meet public expectations".
The editorial noted that the government continues to push through its Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) and the Red-and-White Village Cooperatives programs despite the increasingly tight fiscal situation and that the implementation of these programs has been marked by a series of poisonings, problems with the supply of goods and services and allegations of corruption. Meanwhile, the most pressing needs – improvements to schools, the creation of jobs, and improving people's purchasing power – have not shown any meaningful improvements.
“However, the easiest way to restore public trust is to show the willingness to admit mistakes and correct them. But what has happened is exactly the opposite. Prabowo prefers to respond to criticism with condemnation. He has invited his critics to leave Indonesia, then labelled them foreign lackeys or londo ireng (Black Dutchman). These statements may bring applause from fanatical supporters, but they seldom result in public confidence on a wider scale.”
The editorial concluded by saying, “The President needs to remember that legitimacy does not end at the ballot box. Authority is maintained through public trust that is built every day. If critics are labelled and insulted, it is not only the voice of the president that becomes louder, but also the sound of the alarms indicating an erosion of public confidence. In politics, what is often most dangerous is not the mouths of the critics, but the tongue of the leaders themselves.”
[The full Tempo editorial can be read here https://en.tempo.co/read/2116669/a-reflection-of-the-authority-of-the-prabowo-administration.]
