The Phenomenon Called Purbaya Effect

A photo by Luthfiah VOI

JAKARTA Who would have thought, the pros and cons that accompanied various breakthroughs and policies of the Minister of Finance, Purbaya Yudhi Sadive, were able to raise positive sentiment, popularity and even the electability of the former Head of the Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS). The public calls it the Purbaya Effect.

Although only for a long time as corn served as the state treasurer, the soaring name of Purbaya in various surveys of public perceptions was very reasonable, where the sentiment towards the former KSP member in the Luhut Binsar Panjaitan era from the community was indeed positive.

Kompas Research and Development Through Kompas Monitoring on the activities of netizens on five social media platforms, such as Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, and X in the period September 8 to October 13, 2025, shows positive sentiment towards Purbaya reaching 47 percent, followed by neutral votes 25 percent and negative 28 percent.

The results of monitoring showed a drastic change in public perception of Purbaya. The first three days after his inauguration on September 8, he had received negative sentiment of up to 55 percent. However, this view slowly turned positive.

Kompas Research and Development saw that this change in sentiment was triggered by a link between the attitude, statement, and policy conveyed by Purbaya. The initial assumption that Purbaya has a 'coboi' style that is difficult to control is now shifting. The spontaneous style he shows tends to receive a positive response from netizens.

The social media monitoring agency Drone Emprit also mapped public sentiment towards Purbaya Yudhi Sadives. The analysis was carried out on issues and sentiment on six platforms, namely X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and online media, in the period 17 7 October 2025 using specific keywords related to the Minister of Finance Purbaya.

The results showed that the issue of Purbaya appeared in 12,859 articles and 43,398 uploads, with 44,985 conversations on social media. In online media, positive sentiment towards Purbaya reached 61 percent, negative 3 percent, and neutral 36 percent. While on social media, positive sentiment was 72 percent, negative 17 percent, and neutral 10 percent.

Drone Emprit's findings show that positive sentiment towards Purbaya is influenced by policies that are considered prorakyats by not burdening the new tax, a bold leadership style and focusing on efficiency, firmness against the illegality of taxes and oil and gas mafia, dismissal of corrupt tax employees, and delaying 0.5 percent of taxes for online traders.

According to Drone Emprit founder Ismail Fahmi, an important finding related to positive sentiment towards Purbaya is positive sentiment on social media of 72 percent which was not only born out of its own policies, but is strongly strengthened by the narrative of comparison with previous ministers.

"Public actively positions Purbaya as an antithesis of the old leadership and policy style, so she is perceived as a fresh wind' that brings change," he said.

In addition, the striking differences in positive sentiment in online media and social media (61 to 72 percent) show a more emotional, personal and prorakkyat narrative from Purbaya has succeeded in garnering massive support on social media platforms even though online media has reported many negative issues such as protests from regional heads regarding TKD cuts in a balanced manner.

The fiscal justice narrative is the main foundation of public trust and positive sentiment because it is consistently built on issues that intersect with a sense of justice. The most appreciated example is the policy that protects the small people by pursuing jumbo tax evaders," explained Fahmi.

Based on Netray media monitoring collected from various online media and social media, Purbaya's trend as a new financialenter has also increased and is well received by the public.

Communication Style Is The Key To Purbaya Effect

Likewise, the results of the Indonesia Political Opinion (IPO) survey show that Purbaya is the minister of the Red and White Cabinet with the best performance. Executive Director of the IPO, Dedi Kurnia Syah, revealed that Purbaya's performance occupies the highest position even though he is a new minister in the government cabinet of President Prabowo Subianto. "The Minister of Finance of Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa is considered the best working, 17.5 percent," he said.

The name Purbaya even defeated Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya in second place with 15.1 percent, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sugiono 11.8 percent, Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan 9.8 percent and Menpora Erick Thohir 7.4 percent. After that, Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman 6.5 percent, Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (AHY), Minister of Religion Nasaruddin Umar 5.7 percent.

Meanwhile, in terms of popularity, Purbaya, who occupies the third position, is also not far from the first and second places. Teddy ranks first with 47.5 percent, Erick Thohir 43.5 percent, Purbaya 41.1 percent and Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia. Then, Zulkifli Hasan 37.9 percent, AHY 34.6 percent, Sugiono 29.5 percent and Nasaruddin Umar 20.4 percent.

This finding is interesting because among other ministers, Purbaya is a newcomer. Meanwhile, none of the other ministers in the same force as Purbaya entered the most popular minister. In terms of publicity, it is extraordinary, including propaganda on his activities," explained Dedi.

The continued popularity of Purbaya in a short time, called the Executive Director of the Strategic Trias, Agung Baskoro, was influenced by several factors. First, the economic conditions that are narrowing society make the figure of Purbaya like an ocean in the middle of the desert. This is because Purbaya is able to explain economic issues in a simple language so that it is considered an antithesis of previous officials who are considered difficult to understand.

The second factor is Purbaya's personality which is judged as it is and authentic, both in communicating and behavior. The authentic nature caused a polemic at the beginning of his term of office, especially when he misresponded to a big action of 17 plus 8. However, he immediately corrected himself so that a positive image rebound appeared," added Agung.

Political socio observer at the Helios Strategic Institute, Musfi Romdoni also assessed that Purbaya's high popularity and electability did not appear due to her performance, but was caused by her communication style. The reason is, Purbaya presents a very contrasting style of communication with Mrs. Sri Mulyani.

"If we pay attention to Sri Mulyani, she uses a typical technocrat communication style. She is very careful about talking, very normative, and sometimes considered insensitive. But when Mr. Purbaya was present, she dared to use language that stimulated public emotions," he said.

He stated, in an economic situation that for the past year has been filled with pessimism, Purbaya's presence with a straightforward and courageous style of communication actually brings positive psychological effects. The style, which is often referred to as coboy', encourages changes in public perceptions of the economy to become more optimistic. "Now that sense of optimism has later converted into popularity and high electability," concluded Musfi.