Many Jakarta Residents Oppose Presidential Selection of Governor

The Jakarta Special Capital Region Bill (RUU DKJ) proposes that the Jakarta Governor will no longer be elected through regional head elections (Pilkada), but instead appointed directly by the President.

Article 10 Paragraph 2 of the RUU DKJ states, “The Governor and Deputy Governor are appointed, inaugurated, and dismissed by the President, taking into consideration proposals or opinions from the DPR (House of Representatives).”

So, what are citizens' opinions regarding the proposed presidential appointment of the Jakarta Governor?

According to a Kompas Research and Development (Litbang Kompas) survey, a majority, or 66.1% of respondents, disagreed with the proposal. This comprises 14% who strongly disagreed and 52.1% who disagreed.

Conversely, 31.3% of respondents stated they agreed with the direct appointment of the Jakarta Governor by the central government. This breaks down to 3.5% who agreed and 27.8% who strongly agreed.

The survey also investigated the reasons for respondents' disagreement with the direct presidential appointment of the Jakarta Governor.

Of those who disagreed, 40.8% considered the absence of a Pilkada in Jakarta a setback for democracy.

Other respondents felt the proposed presidential appointment of the Jakarta Governor would be prone to conflicts of interest, and that the public's voice would be increasingly ignored; each representing 24.5% of respondents.

The Litbang Kompas survey involved 512 respondents randomly selected using a stratified systematic sampling method across 38 Indonesian provinces.

Data collection was conducted from February 26-28, 2024, through telephone interviews. The survey's margin of error is approximately 4.33% with a 95% confidence level, under conditions of simple random sampling.