Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has received a new blow amid his own declining popularity, as the results of a survey announced Sunday show deteriorating approval of the performance of his United Indonesia Cabinet.
The Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) has found in its latest survey that the public approval rating of the performance of the Cabinet, installed in October 2009, dropped significantly from 52.3 percent in January 2010, and then 46.5 percent in September 2010, to 37.7 percent this month.
LSI researcher Adjie Alfaraby said the decline in approval was attributable to five factors, with the prime one being all the recent reports on corruption cases – allegedly involving officials from several ministries – that are currently being handled by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
"Corruption cases [that allegedly involve senior ministry officials] have largely contributed to the decrease in public trust [in the Cabinet]," he said, referring to corruption cases at the Youth and Sports Ministry and the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry.
"One of the ministries is chaired by a top official from Yudhoyono's own party, who even served as his spokesman," he said.
According to Adjie, the survey was conducted from Sept. 5 to Sept. 10, using "multistage random sampling", with 1,200 respondents from the country's 33 provinces. The margin of error was 2.9 percent, he claimed.
He said only 37.7 percent of the respondents said they were satisfied with the performance of the Cabinet, while 44.7 percent said the opposite, and 17.7 percent did not answer.
"About 29.6 percent of respondents in urban areas said they were satisfied with the performance of the Cabinet, but in rural areas it was 43.9 percent.
"This is because urban residents have more access to information, allowing them to follow reports on the government's performance," Adjie said during a press conference on the survey results in Jakarta.
The second factor for the decrease in public trust in the government is due to negatively perceived issues, such as kerosene-to-LPG conversion program, sentence reductions for corruption convicts, legal protection for Indonesian migrant workers and freedom of religion.
"The religious affairs minister is deemed unable to protect the minorities," Adjie said, referring to recent cases of violence toward members of the Ahmadiyah sect.
The third factor is the public perception of the performances of the Agriculture Ministry and the Public Housing Ministry. "The ministers were deemed responsible for the price increases of basic staples and the provision of affordable housing, respectively," Adjie said.
The last two factors relate to ministers' personal issues, especially with regard to allegations of adultery and health problems.
Adjie said Yudhoyono might have a chance to gain back the public's trust by conducting a Cabinet reshuffle, to oust low-performing or troubled Cabinet ministers. "There is no alternative for Yudhoyono if he wants to leave a good legacy. The President must be more careful in selecting ministers," he said.
Calls have mounted for Yudhoyono to reshuffle the Cabinet in a bid to improve its performance in his remaining three years as President.
A different survey conducted by LSI in June, which focused more on the public's perception of Yudhoyono's performance rather than his Cabinet's – resulted in the President's personal approval rating declining from 56.7 percent in January this year to 47.2 percent in June.