Narrowing lead before Indonesia presidential vote nothing to fear for Joko Widodo, says spokesman

With less than three weeks to go before elections, Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s commanding lead over his rival Prabowo Subianto has narrowed but his campaign team is confident he will win by conquering Java island where most of the 193 million registered voters live. Widodo’s spokesman Zuhairi Misrawi told South China Morning Post the president will maintain his lead right up to polling day on April 17. “President Joko Widodo will be re-elected as he will win Java. If you win Java, you will win the elections,” said Zuhairi Misrawi, spokesman for Widodo, during a visit to Kuala Lumpur. Widodo, commonly known as Jokowi, is again pitted against his rival from the 2014 presidential race, retired general Prabowo Subianto, the former commander of Kopassus – Indonesia’s elite military special forces. Widodo courted Chinese cash – and he’s about to find out the cost A survey taken between February 22 and March 5 by Litbang Kompas showed Widodo is likely to win 49.2 per cent of the vote versus Prabowo’s 37.4 per cent. This puts Widodo’s lead at 11.8 percentage points over Prabowo, down from 19.9 points in an October 2018 survey also by Litbang Kompas. But Zuhairi is even more optimistic. “According to our own survey, we expect Jokowi to win by 20 to 30 percentage points,” he said. “We expect a narrow win in West Java, which is a Prabowo stronghold, as we have been working very hard there. We hope to win by 4-10 percentage points,” said Zuhairi. West Java has 33.2 million voters – the area with the largest number of voters in the country. This is followed by East Java with 30.4 million voters and Central Java with 27.4 million voters, according to official figures. Zuhairi expects Widodo to poll 60 per cent of the total votes in East Java and 70 per cent in Central Java. “Overall, Jokowi’s programmes have been felt by almost all segments of society, from the poor to the middle class. The economy is good. Poverty levels have fallen to a single digit for the first time,” he said. Why the Indonesian government has ordered Garuda to cut airfares In March 2018, poverty in Indonesia dropped to 9.82 per cent – its lowest ever – according to Indonesia’s central statistics agency. “Our debts are in a good position … the borrowings were used to develop the nation. Jokowi built infrastructure – ports, airports, thousands of kilometres of new roads, in fact, 150,000km of roads in the villages,” said Zuhairi. But he anticipated Widodo will perform poorly in Sumatra due to the spread of false claims about the president. “We expect to lose in many places in Sumatra because of hoaxes, fake news that accuse Jokowi of being anti-Islam ... and that he is communist,” said Zuhairi. “All these accusations are not true. Jokowi’s running mate is a senior Muslim cleric Ma’aruf Amin. Jokowi is not communist. But unfortunately, people believe these hoaxes and fake news.” Greg Barton, chair of Global Islamic Studies at Deakin University and long-time observer of Indonesian politics, said the tight race is typical of any two-horse presidential contest. He does not think the latest survey should concern Widodo. “Not in itself, it is to be expected,” Barton said. “It typically happens in 2 horse races. The polling to watch is with the millennial’s intentions to vote and voter turnout. He needs to inspire people, especially young people, to turn out and vote. Not to stay home and ‘golput’.” Golput stands for golongan putih, or the ‘white group’, referring to people who abstain from voting. Pollsters and analysts estimate abstainers to be around 20 per cent-30 per cent. They are also seen as potential swing voters. Indonesian Chinese still face prejudice. Can one Muslim make a difference? Zuhari said should the golput group decide to vote, they are more likely to cast their votes for Jokowi. “Golput members are very well-educated people. They are people who want a new alternative. Prabowo does not represent the new alternative. He is part of the old regime, the Order Baru,” said Zuhairi. Prabowo is also the former son-in-law of the late autocratic president Suharto who was overthrown by a student-led uprising in 1998. Suharto’s government was known as the Order Baru (New Order). “If the golput decide to vote, their votes are more likely to go to Jokowi,” said Zuhairi. Zuhairi is running in the legislative elections under a ticket from Widodo’s PDIP party. He was in Kuala Lumpur to meet migrant workers and is expected to visit Hong Kong in this week to do the same.

Narrowing lead before Indonesia presidential vote nothing to fear for Joko Widodo, says spokesman

Jokowi’s policies have helped ‘almost all segments of society’, said Zuhairi Misrawi, adding the economy is up and poverty levels down