• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.213-243
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• 2017

In the first half of 2016, Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo continued his efforts to secure support from major political parties, often benefiting from internal party conflicts. During the tense campaign for the 2017 Jakarta gubernational election, however, blasphemy charges against incumbent "Ahok", an ethnic Chinese and Christian, put Jokowi in trouble. Led by radical Islamic organizations such as Front Pembela Islam (FPI), half a million people filled Jakarta's streets, calling for Ahok's arrest. The resurgence of identity politics questioned the boundaries of the Indonesian nation and its core premises on the relationship between religion and the state. In the realm of foreign policies, the Jokowi administration maintained its tougher stance against illegal fishing in its waters. In spite of Indonesia's clashes with Chinese vessels in the Natuna sea, however, it is unlikely that the tension will escalate uncontrollably, as the Jokowi administration is seeking investment from rich neighbors for building infrastructure, which will be his key legacy for the 2019 presidential election.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2018

Leading up to the 2019 presidential election in Indonesia, campaigns have emerged through social media, particularly Twitter, using various hashtags, such as #2019GantiPresiden (2019 Change President) and #TetapJokowi (Always Jokowi). This paper tries to understand the presidential candidates' power map in forming opinions and influencing voter behavior by analyzing Twitter from August 6, 2018 to September 15, 2018, just before the beginning of the official campaign period, by searching for the keyword "pemilihan presiden RI Tahun 2019" (RI presidential election in 2019). According to our NodeXL's analysis, there were 1,650 active Twitter users talking about the 2019 presidential election. The 1,650 Twitter users have formed a communication network of 46,750 relationships formed from messages in the form of tweets, comments, and retweets. Our analysis found that those mentioning "pilihan presiden 2019" form large communication networks around four clusters: one for each of the two candidates (Jokowi and Prabowo) and two for opinion leaders who are undecided about the election (Gus Mus and Mas Piyu). GusMus is a religious leader, as an official of the PBNU Rais Syuriah (an Islamic organization) and has a large following both on and off Twitter. "MasPiyu" is an unidentified Twitter user; he only has a large following on Twitter, but does not have support offline.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.147-179
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• 2018

Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, Jakarta's Ex-Governor, lost his re-election bid in 2017 and then was jailed on a charge of blasphemy. After his defeat, the rhetorics of Indonesian politics was divided into two opposing sides: anti-Communism and 'pribumi' of the radical Islamic movements and Pancasila of the Jokowi administration. Although Islamic political parties are now preoccupied with their own coalitional politics and survivals, rather than solidarity of Islamic forces, the rising Islamic sentiments confirmed by the Jakarta election indicate that religion will continue to be a key variable in Indonesian politics. Meanwhile, ex-military generals who declared themselves as candidates in the 2018 regional election and the 2019 presidential election, as well as a few measures used by the Jokowi administration against extra-parliamentary political opponents, remind us of Suharto's New Order. Steady growth continues in economy. The raise of minimum wage enlarged middle classes and led to a decline of the poverty rate. Jokowi's commitment to building infrastructure has made tangible achievements. Under these circumstances, enhanced cooperation between Indonesia and South Korea is laudable, though any such cooperation must fully incorporate local sociocultural contexts, such as the strengthened halal certification system.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.7-35
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• 2021

This research is an attempt to understand the economic and social consequences that are occurring in Indonesia due to the spread of COVID-19. Indonesia, which has maintained solid economic growth since the inauguration of President Jokowi's government, is also experiencing difficulties to deal with unexpected COVID-19 pandemic as the global economic turmoil has had a very significant impact on its economy. The economic impact of COVID-19 can be felt, starting from the phenomenon of panic buying, the free fall of the stock price index, the depreciation of the Rupiah against the Dollar, sluggish activities in the processing industry, and ultimately it has an impact on slowing economic growth. Various policies and measures have been taken by the Indonesian government to minimize the negative impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy. One such area is electronic commerce business or e-commerce that witnessed a vast increase of online and non-cash transaction amid rising voices that the country needs to prepare for the advent of a new economic system, the so-called New Normal era. The Covid-19 pandemic will temporarily slow economic growth and delay some development projects and policy initiatives as the Indonesian government diverts capital from infrastructure development to help respond to the crisis. However, the Jokowi administration's efforts for continuous reform are expected to accelerate the transition to the digital economy.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.271-301
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• 2024

Diplomatic relations between the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia have been going on for almost five decades. However, the cooperation between the two countries was still very limited at the beginning of diplomatic relations. As time went by, this cooperation began to expand, especially after Jokowi's visit to the United Arab Emirates in 2015. After this visit, the United Arab Emirates also showed increased interest in Indonesia and started to aggressively exercise soft power in Indonesia. Agreement after agreement have been signed, not only in the economic, political, and security sectors, but also in other areas. This phenomenon of increasing cooperation is one form of success in the soft power exercised by the United Arab Emirates towards Indonesia. Therefore, this research will look at the United Arab Emirates' soft power strategy towards Indonesia from 2015-2022. The concept developed by Joshua Kurlantzick is used to analyze using four important indicators that include educational cooperation, religious exchanges, humanitarian assistance, as well as cultural exchanges.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.393-406
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• 2020

The discourse on the lockdown in Indonesia is getting stronger due to the increasing number of positive cases of the coronavirus and the death rate. As of August 12, 2020, the confirmed number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia reached 130,718. There were 85,798 victims who have recovered and 5,903 who have died. Data show a significant increase in cases of COVID-19 every day. For this reason, there needs to be an evaluation of the government policy of the Republic of Indonesia in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. An evaluation of policies for handling the pandemic must include public opinion to determine any weaknesses of this policy. The development of public opinion about the lockdown policy can be understood through social media. During the COVID-19 pandemic, measuring public opinion through traditional methods (surveys) was difficult. For this reason, we utilized big data on social media as research data. The main purpose of this study is to understand public opinion on the lockdown policy in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. The things observed included: volume of Twitter users, top influencers, top tweets, and communication networks between Twitter users. For the methodological development of future public opinion research, the researchers outline the obstacles faced in researching public opinion based on big data from Twitter. The research results show that the lockdown policy is an interesting issue, as evidenced by the number of active users (79,502) forming 133,209 networks. Posts about the lockdown on Twitter continued to increase after the implementation of the lockdown policy on April 10, 2020. The lockdown policy has caused various reactions, seen from the word analysis showing 14.8% positive sentiment, 17.5% negative, and 67.67% non-categorized words. Sources of information who have played the roles of top influencers regarding the lockdown policy include: Jokowi (the president of the Republic of Indonesia), online media, television media, government departments, and governors. Based on the analysis of the network structure, it shows that Jokowi has a central role in controlling the lockdown policy. Several challenges were found in this study: 1) choosing keywords for downloading data, 2) categorizing words containing public opinion sentiment, and 3) determining the sample size.