What’s at Stake in Indonesia’s Presidential Election?

[CC may contain inaccuracies] Even as we talk about policies andcontinue to policies to do with Jokowi government and so on, so forth, is alsoabout democracy and the rule of law. There's great concern about abacksliding of that. Put that in perspective for us.Absolutely. Hacienda.And, you know, I have to say, it's been so exciting covering this electionperiod, given the fact that it's so consequential.You know, I lived through the transition from Indonesians dictatorship periodinto democracy back in 1998. I grew up in this country and sawfirsthand just how much people fought.

During that reform era, the era ofreform in order to earn this hard won democracy.And that's really what we're talking about today, because the candidates thatare on offer for more than 200 million Indonesian voters have to present adegree of stability, economic stability, as you point out, that we've seen fromPresident Joko Widodo over the last ten years of his time in office.But also people are looking for a sense of identity and belonging.And what does it mean to be part of Indonesia in this new age withgeopolitical concerns, the relationship with China and the United States, ofcourse, but as well, at a time when.

Indonesia is finding its own voice as amember of the Global South and all of those things really very much on thetable today on the agenda. But ultimately, this comes down, youknow, like elections everywhere to what people want from their next leader.And it's been really interesting speaking to some of the voters,particularly as I've been out and about at the rallies over this weekend, youknow, this concern about that interference from Joko Widodo, not justis his feeling, his son as a VP candidate for Prabowo, but also thetweaking of Constitution. I mean, what is the sense of the ground?Is there a sense of betrayal that we're.

Hearing from the people?I mean, I think it depends who you talk to, right?When I speak to legal experts, this is a huge issue for them because in ademocracy there needs to be checks and balances.And the fact that the rule of law, as one university legal expert put it tome, has been used in a way to manipulate the process.And specifically, when we look at the fact that the Constitutional court lastOctober lowered the minimum age for candidates to be able to become, youknow, to run as vice president, which saw Joko Widodo, his son, eldest son,come in to the fray and become the vice.

Presidential nominee for PrabowoSubianto. There was a lot of controversy aboutthat decision, particularly because Jokowi's brother in law was the personin charge of the Constitutional court making the decision at the time.That raises a lot of concerns for people, particularly those who havelived through the Suharto era, the former dictator who ruled Indonesia for32 years. And he was seen as somebody who presidedover this era of what is known as Kaka end in Indonesia corruption, collusionand nepotism. People don't want that back, but speakto the younger generation has and you.

Know and I was out at these rallies andthey're boisterous festive occasions like really proper festivals ofdemocracy. And one young voter who's going to bevoting for the first time today said to me, well, you know, I'm sort ofconcerned about that. But that's all in the past now.And we need to look at the future. And Gibran, the vice presidentialnominee, he's young. He's like us.He gets what we want. And I think there is that generationaldivide, the Indonesia of the past and the Indonesia of the future.But we're seeing the past coming back.

When Jokowi came to power, people toutedhim as the first non-elite, non-military, someone not from apolitical dynasty. Yet he's leaving, leaving a legacy ofpolitical dynasty. Yeah, I mean, you know how times havechanged, right? You and I were out in 2014,but, you know, it was a real as we were just talking about, it was a real senseof I was such an excuse me, momentous occasion in Indonesia that a man of thepeople or yet this people here called him someone who was not from a prominentfamily, a military background, that somebody like him could make it aspresident.

And so many people in that crowd on thatday turned to me and said, if he can do it, we can do it.He brought a real sense of hope and a sense of belonging to people.I've not yet found a sense of betrayal as as we were just talking about.You know, if you look at approval ratings for Jokowi, they're really high,you know, enviable. I think a lot of politicians around theworld would want an 80% approval rating. This particular issue with his son hasdefinitely damaged him. But we'll have to wait for the resultsto come through to see how much it's really damage.In the end, stability has written.

There is growth.People have jobs in most part, and unemployment rate is quite low at about5%. Karishma Vaswani there.

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