Cost of Goods Sold, a Pressing Issue Prabowo Must Address

The Indonesian Political Indicator survey reveals several pressing issues the public believes the Prabowo Subianto administration must address within the next five years.

The most urgent issue, cited by 30.4% of respondents, is controlling the prices of basic necessities.

"I've noticed an increase in the frequency or proportion of those who want the government to control the price of basic necessities, especially recently," said Burhanuddin Muhtadi, Principal Researcher at Indikator, during an online presentation of the survey on Sunday (October 27, 2024).

He noted this is puzzling given Indonesia's five-month deflationary period. However, Burhanuddin admitted the reasons behind the public's heightened focus on controlling basic commodity prices remain unclear.

"If it's [due to deflation], should the government control the prices of basic necessities due to price increases or decreased purchasing power?" he questioned.

The following are the top 10 urgent issues respondents believe the national leader should address in the next five years:

* Controlling the prices of basic necessities: 30.4%
* Providing jobs/reducing unemployment: 18.9%
* Reducing poverty: 10.3%
* Corruption eradication: 7.6%
* Advancing the agricultural sector: 7.5%
* Development/improvement of road, bridge, and other infrastructure: 6.6%
* Security/order: 3.3%
* Improving the quality of education: 3%
* Boosting MSMEs (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises) growth: 2.6%
* Income equality: 2%

Furthermore, the Indikator survey found that 85.3% of respondents expressed confidence in Prabowo's leadership during this term, while 12.2% were not confident.

The survey involved 1,200 respondents across Indonesia, all aged 17 or older or married. Respondents were selected using multistage random sampling.

Data collection was conducted from October 10-15, 2024, through face-to-face interviews using questionnaires. The survey's margin of error is approximately 2.9% at a 95% confidence level.