Jakartans support for Jokowi declines

JAKARTA. A survey has revealed that many Jakartans are considerably less enthusiastic about Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's performance due to his handling of the city's flooding and traffic jams.

In October 2013, most Jakartans said they were satisfied with the job the governor was doing in tackling flooding and traffic congestion, but the figures declined when a follow-up survey was conducted in January this year.

“On the issue of flooding, three months ago, around 59.7 percent of Jakarta's residents said they were satisfied with Jokowi’s performance but now, that figure has dropped to only 24.8 percent. Regarding traffic jams, 52.7 percent of Jakartans surveyed three months ago approved the governor’s approach in City Hall but currently, just 34.6 percent of people are satisfied,” National Survey Institute (LSN) researcher Gema Nusantara said during the release of the institute's latest survey on Sunday, as quoted by kompas.com.

The LSN survey also reveals that most Jakartans are not in favor of Jokowi’s presidential nomination. Gema said one of the reasons was related to their perception that the governor’s performance over flooding and traffic was insufficient.

Another LSN researcher, Dipa Pradipta, said the institute routinely carried out surveys every four months.

The LSN survey, which was conducted from Jan. 10 to 26, employed a direct interview approach and spoke with 790 respondents in five areas of the capital. The survey has a 95 percent trust level and a margin of error of 3.5 percent. (ebf)