President Susilo's popularity continues to drop: Survey
President Susilo's popularity continues to drop: Survey
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
On the eve of the government's announcement it was raising fuel
prices, a poll found President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's
popularity had dropped to 66 percent, with voters criticizing
Susilo's efforts to improve the economy.
A poll conducted in November by the Indonesia Survey Institute
(LSI) showed Susilo's popularity at 80 percent. This figure
dropped significantly to 67 percent in a December poll.
LSI's January poll put the President's popularity at 69
percent, in part due to his response to the tsunami.
According to the latest LSI poll, the results of which were
announced on Tuesday, Susilo's numbers were down as a result of
his perceived indifference to issues affecting the lower classes,
including unemployment, the high cost of education and the rising
prices of basic commodities.
Out of 1,200 respondents, 65.3 percent said Susilo had failed
to reduce unemployment, 55.4 percent cited his inability to
increase wages and 52.6 percent said Susilo had done nothing to
bring down the costs of education.
The poll, with a margin of error of less than 3 percent, was
conducted during the first week of February in 87 cities and 63
villages across 32 provinces. The LSI said the respondents
represented the broad range of interests and concerns of the more
than 150 million registered Indonesian voters.
The poll also focused on the public response to the
government's decision to cut the fuel subsidy.
Despite widespread protests the government went ahead with the
subsidy cut, announcing on Monday that fuel prices would increase
by an average of 29 percent.
The government has promised to channel Rp 10.5 trillion of the
more than Rp 20 trillion (US$21 billion) that will be saved by
cutting the fuel subsidy into programs that will directly benefit
the poor.
The country has about 40 million people officially classified
as poor, meaning they live on less than US$2 a day.
The majority of poll respondents opposed the fuel price
increases, though the poll did not provide specific reasons.
It said more than 70 percent of respondents opposed increases
in the prices of premium and diesel fuel, while about 50 percent
were against the rise in the prices of liquefied natural gas and
Pertamax.
LSI executive director Denny J.A. said that although the
President's popularity had fallen to 66 percent, he still had the
"political capital" to push through unpopular policies,
particularly the fuel subsidy cut.
Susilo's popularity rating is still above the number of votes
he received in winning the presidential election on Sep. 20,
2004.
Susilo and running mate Jusuf Kalla received 60.62 percent of
the vote in the presidential election, defeating incumbent
president Megawati Soekarnoputri and running mate Hasyim Muzadi,
who received just 39.38 percent of the vote.
"If he (Susilo) wants to boost his popularity rating, he must
answer the public's doubts over the fuel price rises by creating
new success stories with the social programs financed with the
savings from the subsidy cut," said Denny. (006)