Journalism

• After four election attempts and three presidential races, the 72-year-old Defence Minister is set to succeed President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who has been in power for a decade.
• We summarised the views of nine academics on seven crucial issues that have become public discussions following recent presidential and vice-presidential debates.

1. Human rights and freedoms on the line

• Prabowo had admitted his involvment in the kidnapping of pro-democracy activists in May 1998 riots, but said he released them.
• Eka said it was concerning that Prabowo did not include any commitment to resolve past human rights violations in his election platform.
• “Hoping for Prabowo to resolve the past human rights cases seems impossible.
• It is difficult to expect Prabowo to be able to fully protect human rights, including civil, political, economic and socio-cultural rights of the entire community,” Eka said.

2. The New Capital’s funding challenge

• Prabowo-Gibran’s victory means the development of the New Capital city in East Kalimantan, one of Jokowi’s signature projects, will continue as planned.
• With many of Prabowo-Gibran’s campaign programs requiring substantial funding, including the free lunch and internet programs, money will be tight.
• “There is still a burden from the debt inherited by the Jokowi administration, and the interest is also very high.
• This does not include the risk of biodiversity loss due to the reduction in cover.

3. Food estate’s risk of failure

• However, amid a changing climate and the risk of extreme weather, the food estate project is at high risk of failure.
• Prabowo must reconsider the food estate project, Angga said, because Indonesia had already experienced two losses by forcing itself to boost mass agriculture: the Suharto-era million-hectare rice field project in Central Kalimantan and the food estate project in Merauke in Papua.

4. Strategies for nickel and other industries

• Additionally, given its status as one of the world’s biggest nickel producers, Indonesia’s export ban on raw nickel and the flood of semi-finished nickel products in the international market has seen global nickel prices plummet.
• Krisna said the downstream aspirations echoed by Prabowo-Gibran were not only about nickel, but also crude palm oil, coal and digital downstreaming.
• “Some of these industries are varied, and many require a wide scale that may not be sufficient if they only rely on the domestic market.

5. Improving teacher and lecturer welfare

• One study found increased welfare could encourage educators to improve the quality of the teaching and learning process.
• Another study in 2019 showed the fulfilment of adequate welfare for teachers would increase teachers’ enthusiasm when working.
• Hariyadi concluded that although necessary, improving welfare was not the only component needed to enhance the quality of public services, especially in the education sector.

6. Protecting independent research and academic freedom

• In the presidential debates, Prabowo and his two competitors did not explain their understanding of academic freedom.
• The discussion about the political environment, academic autonomy and the legal environment determining academic freedom was nowhere to be found.
• Masduki said Prabowo should acknowledge academic autonomy from the very beginning: from planning research topics and building the research environment to receiving funding not flavoured with political messages.

7. Progress on helping children grow

• The prevalence of stunting cannot go down quickly in only one leadership period, as it is caused by many factors.
• “The Health Ministry has a program for the first 1000 days of a child’s life, starting during pregnancy.
• “The target (of the program) is unclear, whether (it is) to overcome stunting, malnutrition or other nutrition.
• Ultimately, budget allocations may hinder the efforts to reduce stunting, as Jokowi government has eliminated the mandatory spending for health.