Ronna Nirmala – In a break with the past, the latest survey conducted ahead of the July 11 gubernatorial election in Jakarta showed that voters were judging the candidates by how they planned to address the city's many woes, not by how popular they were.
The survey, which was conducted last week by the University of Indonesia's Center for Political Research (Puskapol), showed that Jakartans believed candidates should focus on coming up with real solutions instead of boasting about how many supporters they had, especially of certain key ethnicities.
A total of 76 percent of the 742 residents with fixed, registered telephone lines questioned in the survey said they would seriously consider the candidates's program proposals when making their choice. "The data show that the level of awareness of residents in this gubernatorial election is really high," said Irwansyah, one of the Puskapol researchers.
Dirga Ardiansa, another Puskapol researcher, said the survey showed that substance was important to voters entrusting someone to address the many problems of a city such as flooding, traffic congestion, pollution, thuggery and poverty. "The competition for the leadership of Jakarta is now one of ideas, platforms and programs to overcome the series of problems," Dirga said.
The survey showed that 59 percent of the people questioned remained hesitant as to their choice of candidate. "Only about a fourth of those questioned [23 percent] have already made their choice, and 17.6 percent feel skeptical, saying there is no candidate capable of dealing with Jakarta's problems," Dirga said.
A total of 62 percent wanted problems of prosperity and security – such as poverty, thuggery and rape – to be overcome in the first year, the researcher said. Nearly 30 percent wanted the winner to solve the capital's perennial flooding and traffic problems within two years.
Traffic was the city's most significant problem for 25 percent of those surveyed. "The next one, with 21.67 percent, is flooding, and following that are environmental problems such as waste, water, pollution and emissions in third place with 10.89 percent," Dirga said.
To deal with the city's notorious traffic, 27 percent of respondents recommended limiting vehicles, 17 percent wanted expansion of public transportation and 15 percent believed roads should be expanded. Eleven percent wanted better traffic management.
The survey also showed that 81 percent of those questioned said they would vote, while 18 percent said they would refrain because none of the candidates met their expectations.