As the 2019 Indonesian elections draw closer, public opinion surveys about the electability of incumbent President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and his challenger Prabowo Subianto are being released with increasing frequency. Though there are some differences between the results, virtually all pollsters agree that Jokowi is currently on track to win a second term. Why has Jokowi been able to maintain his lead in the polls so easily? What obstacles has the Prabowo campaign faced so far? And why are there no renegade pollsters who are trying to muddy the waters for political purposes?
In Talking Indonesia this week, Dr Dirk Tomsa discusses these and other questions with Dr Djayadi Hanan, a lecturer in political science at Paramadina University in Jakarta and executive director of Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC), one of Indonesia’s leading political research and polling institutes.
In 2019, the Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Dirk Tomsa from La Trobe University, Dr Dave McRae from the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute, Dr Jemma Purdey from Deakin University, and Dr Charlotte Setijadi from Singapore Management University.
Look out for a new Talking Indonesia podcast every fortnight. Catch up on previous episodes here, subscribe via iTunes or listen via your favourite podcasting app.
Photo by Djayadi Hanan/SMRC.
