Campaign Team Says Pramono-Rano Ready to Absorb Middle Class Strengthening Program in Ahok-Anies Era

Member of the Pramono Anung-Rano Karno winning team, Pangeran Siahaan in the Kebayoran Baru area, South Jakarta, Friday, November 1, 2024 (Diah Ayu/VOI)

JAKARTA - Member of the Pramono Anung-Rano Karno winning team, Pangeran Siahaan, ensured that the Jakarta Governor-Deputy Governor candidate number 3, Pramono-Rano, is ready to absorb the policies of the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government that favors the middle class under the leadership of Basuki Tjahaja Purnama and Anies Baswedan.

This was stated by Pangeran after a discussion entitled "Transition of Jakarta Governor Leadership Post Ahok-Anies".

"What has been good in Jakarta, both in the era of Mr. Ahok, in the era of Mr. Anies, will of course be continued. For Mas Pram, he wants to put his ego aside," said Pangeran in the Kebayoran Baru area, South Jakarta, Friday, November 1.

Pangeran assessed that residents who are included in the middle class group have their own problems.

On the one hand, they are not targeted as recipients of social assistance (bansos) because they are not considered poor.

However, it is also not easy for them to improve their welfare because they have the obligation to pay taxes and do not receive many incentives. Their welfare could also be threatened with falling to the lower class.

"What are the actual needs of the middle class? It's about work, education, the unemployment rate is increasing," said Pangeran.

"So, how is Mas Pram and Bang Rano's program, for example, there will be training, there will be a job fair every 3 months which will be held at the sub-district level," he added.

On the same occasion, former staff of Anies Baswedan when he was Governor of DKI Jakarta 2017-2022, Usamah Abdul Aziz outlined a number of policies for the middle class in the Anies era.

One of the programs being implemented is increasing the affordability of public transportation. One of the goals is to reduce the cost of living for middle-class citizens in carrying out their daily activities.

"Their biggest expenses are almost all on transportation. Finally, at that time we committed to building good and cheap transportation. So, Jaklingko was born, we made it integrated," said Usamah.

Meanwhile, former Ahok staff who led Jakarta for the 2014-2017 period, Michael Sianipar explained that the main thing that Ahok did in strengthening the middle class was to prioritize the quality of government services, including regional budgeting.

"What Mr. Ahok succeeded in doing was straightening out the bureaucracy so that officials and all the lower levels up to the village heads and sub-district heads have a community orientation, making licensing easier," Michael explained.