Discourse On Changing Ministers In The Middle Of The COVID-19 Pagebluk

President Joko Widodo while chairing a closed meeting (Photo: Secretariat of the Indonesian Cabinet)

JAKARTA - In the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, a survey stated that the public was satisfied with President Joko Widodo's performance but was not satisfied with the performance of the central government. In particular, the performance of the ministers in the middle of the Advanced Indonesia Cabinet. This is considered to be a sign that Jokowi needs to start thinking about the reshuffle in his cabinet.

Indonesian Political Indicators issued the results of their survey entitled 'Public Evaluation of Handling COVID-19, Economic Performance, and Political Implications'. The survey results noted that public satisfaction with President Joko Widodo's performance decreased amidst the handling of the COVID-19 event, although it was not significant.

"Satisfaction with Jokowi's work is around 66.5 percent, slightly down but not significant compared to the previous findings, 69.5 percent," said Executive Director of Indonesian Political Indicators Burhanuddin Muhtadi in a press conference broadcast on the Facebook account for Indonesian Political Indicators, Sunday, June 7.

Burhanuddin explained that the survey in February explained that 11.9 percent of respondents were very satisfied with Jokowi's performance and 57.6 percent considered that they were quite satisfied. Furthermore, there were 26.1 percent of respondents who were not satisfied with Jokowi's performance and 2.0 percent felt completely dissatisfied and 2.3 percent did not answer or did not know.

Meanwhile, in May, the Indonesian Political Indicator noted that 14.3 percent of respondents said they were very satisfied with Jokowi's performance and 52.2 percent considered that they were quite satisfied. Then, 27.4 respondents said they were not satisfied and 2.3 percent of respondents said they were not satisfied at all. The rest, 3.8 percent said they did not know or did not answer.

Although the level of satisfaction with President Jokowi's performance has decreased, however, Burhanuddin explained there is a difference between satisfaction with Jokowi and the performance of the central government in handling this pagebluk.

"Satisfaction with Pak Jokowi is separated from the central government. So some are still satisfied with Pak Jokowi's performance, but some are not satisfied with the central government in handling COVID-19," said Burhanuddin.

This survey was held on May 16-18, 2020 with a margin of error of approximately 2.9 percent at a 95 percent confidence level. The method used was telephone interviews with 1,200 respondents from all over Indonesia who were randomly selected.

Politician of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) Mardani Ali Sera considered the survey interesting. This is because, even though the economic condition has decreased in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, the level of community satisfaction is still above 50 percent.

"This is interesting. Public satisfaction with the central government has decreased but Pak Jokowi's rating is still quite high. These are signs that the reshuffle is getting closer," Mardani said at the same press conference.

He considered, many people could not be satisfied with the ministry's performance in handling this virus. "But with the performance of Pak Jokowi, he remains (satisfied) because he continues to attend, continues to work," he said.

Needs cabinet refresh

Paramadina University political observer Hendri Satrio agreed with Mardani, and said President Jokowi needed to replace his aides in the cabinet. According to him, the Indonesia Maju Cabinet needs refreshment and adjustment in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak.

"Now there is a pandemic, it must be filled with the right people for the current situation," said Hendri when contacted by VOI.

According to him, Jokowi could follow Winston Churchill, who was the British Prime Minister. Hendri said that when he took office and faced war, Winston formed a war cabinet.

In that cabinet, he continued, Winston chose a minister who understood the situation of war. Once the war was over, his cabinet underwent a change again according to the circumstances at that time. "Now, Pak Jokowi should be," he said.

"This cabinet was built, formed with mediocre conditions. Normal conditions. Now the condition is now 'the new normal'. So there must be a refresher, an evaluation must be carried out," explained Hendri.

This refresher and evaluation is considered very important. In addition to solving problems during the mid-week period, this refreshment can help Jokowi to carry out his campaign promises.

Executive Director of Indonesia Political Review, Ujang Komarudin, is of the view that Jokowi needs to replace or reshuffle a number of ministers. There are several names which he calls deserving of changing.

They are Minister of Health Terawan Agus Putranto, Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi, Minister of Social Affairs Juliari Batubara, Minister of Manpower Ida Fauziyah, and several ministers in the economic sector. According to him, the minister he mentioned was not responsive in facing this non-natural disaster.

"Handling for COVID-19 is in shambles. Many regulations collide because the ministers make strange and conflicting rules," said Ujang.

Ujang assessed that Jokowi does not need to wait for this outbreak to end if he wants to evaluate or replace his aides. "There is no need to wait for COVID to end. At any time the President can replace his ministers who are not working well," he said.

"When many ministers cannot work, a reshuffle becomes a necessity. If there are ministers whose performance is good in dealing with corona, yes, just replace them," he concluded.