Pebbles
in Jokowi’s shoes in 2015
Primastuti Handayani ; A managing editor at The Jakarta Post
|
JAKARTA
POST, 04 Januari 2015
The year 2015
began on a gloomy note for Indonesia following the crash of AirAsia flight
QZ8501 in the Karimata Strait. Search and rescue efforts for the 162
passengers and crew of the aircraft, bound for Singapore from Surabaya on the
morning of Dec. 28, have been going on for a week.
President
Joko “Jokowi” Widodo ordered the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas)
to prioritize retrieval of the bodies. Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini stayed
with the waiting passengers’ families at the Juanda Airport crisis center to
lend them support.
The accident
was the country’s worst last year.
In the past
decade, the growth of budget airlines has helped connect people and our
13,000 islands. However, the latest accident has raised questions once again
over our aviation safety.
Safety
remains an issue throughout the country’s transportation system, especially
land transportation. National Police data recorded that 26,484 people were
killed in traffic accidents in 2013. The figure is lower than three years
earlier of 31,234 people.
Although the
police run regular campaigns on traffic safety, many road users continue to ignore
traffic rules. However, transportation is also about connectivity from one
point to another. The government’s plan to build more roads and toll roads is
widely welcomed despite calls to use public transportation.
Transportation
is just one of many things that the Jokowi administration will have to
concentrate on this year.
The
government’s decision to cap the fuel subsidies — effective from New Year’s
Day — should mean more funds for other sectors, especially health care and
education. Increasing fuel prices was a far from popular move, with the
public initially protesting but many finally accepting that the fuel
subsidies had to be allocated elsewhere for the greater good.
The
Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) program for all citizens
— including white-collar workers in the private sector starting this month —
seems ideal. However, low participation and compliance in paying premiums
will remain two major problems for the BPJS Kesehatan.
In the
education sector, the government’s decision to return to the 2006 curriculum
starting this month has brought relief to many teachers and parents. They
also welcomed the ministry’s decision to end the function of the national
exam as the sole determinant of student graduation.
Both decisions
were deemed landmarks for the country’s education system. Culture and
Elementary and Secondary Education Minister Anies Baswedan said the
government expected to see better exams this year. He also revealed that
eight components were used to qualify the success of the educational system,
which included the exams, teachers, learning materials and school
infrastructure.
Further work
for the Jokowi administration is the fight against corruption. Despite the
Corruption Eradication Commission’s (KPK) never ending efforts to investigate
big graft cases, corruption is still rampant in the country.
The KPK has
been criticized for not finishing its investigations into big cases. As KPK
chairman Abraham Samad said, one major reason for this is limited human resources.
To cope with the challenges, the KPK has revamped its top posts’ job
descriptions, namely enforcement, prevention, data and information management
and internal monitoring and public complaints.
Another issue
that remains a pebble in Jokowi’s shoe is religious tolerance and human
rights. Somehow the way the government deals with these ongoing issues has
yet to answer the real problems. We want to hear the good news that
congregations are allowed to hold regular services in their churches; that
Ahmadis can return to their homes; and that acts of violence against
civilians by authorities have been stopped.
On top of all
these challenges Jokowi still needs to make peace with members of the House
of Representatives. Supported by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDI-P) in last year’s presidential election, the party, unfortunately, could
not easily dominate the House as it faced strong resistance from the
Red-and-White Coalition.
Even though
the Red and White — spearheaded by the Golkar Party, which supported Jokowi’s
rival Prabowo Subianto — is losing supporters, it still has a grip on the
House. The United Development Party (PPP) was the first to declare its
departure from the coalition following the party’s split into the camps of
Suryadharma Ali and former party secretary-general Muhammad “Romy”
Romahurmuziy.
Later, it was
Golkar’s turn to be rocked by infighting. The country’s oldest political
party saw major internal division after a group of the party’s youth members,
supporters of former coordinating people’s welfare minister Agung Laksono,
stormed Golkar headquarters in West Jakarta and attacked members of the
opposing faction.
Golkar has
known infighting before, but it had never experienced violence and now the
party has effectively split in two: one faction led by incumbent chairman
Aburizal Bakrie and one by deputy chairman Agung.
Jokowi and
the PDI-P-led coalition need to use every means available to control the
House so that the government’s programs can be implemented properly and
pending bills can be deliberated smoothly.
For all of
the shortcomings under Jokowi-Kalla, the world has been impressed by their
victory in the presidential election, Jokowi’s speech in Beijing and how the
government is handling the AirAsia crash. To improve the economy and
governance of the 240 million population is not easy. Just as Jokowi said in
his speech after announcing his Cabinet: our option is only to work, work,
work. ●
|
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar